


Altered Reality

by GeneralSherman



Series: Games of Life & Death [2]
Category: overwatch
Genre: Canon Autistic Character Written By An IRL Autistic Person, Canon Compliant (As Of BlizzConline; Elements Subject To Change As New Updates to OW2 Come), Classical conditioning, Conspiracy, Corporate Espionage, Dystopian New York City, Elements of Coffee Shop AUs, Extended Homages To Casino Royale, Extended Homages To Hitman, French and Spanish-Speaking Segments Provided By Google Translate, Gaslighting, Gen, Graphic Description of Hallucinogenic Drug Trip, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm my own beta reader, Maximilien is a Predator of both the Corporate and Sexual Variety, Non-Consensual Drug Use, OC Side Characters, Originally written in 2018, Other, Picks Up Right Where War Of Peace Left Off, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Reposted and Rewritten from FFN, Sanjay Is An Overly Ambitious Worm, Slow Pace, Sombra Is A Manipulative Bitch, Spy Thriller Elements, Symmetra Is Pushed Outside Her Comfort Zone, Trust, shorter chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeneralSherman/pseuds/GeneralSherman
Summary: All her life, Satya Vaswani has found comfort in routine. In being able to plan out the world around her and the events that transpire in it, she's able to keep the chaos she's been taught to detest in check and allow the order she's learned to love flourish. Her career to this point has been the epitome of these beliefs, and she wouldn't have it any other way.But like it or not, change always comes. When Satya is transferred to a new assignment and guided through her first steps into a world far larger - and more chaotic - than she ever thought possible, she is forced to call everything she knows and believes into question. At the same time, sinister forces play an intricate and deadly game on the grandest of all scales, with her acting as wild card, centerpiece, and puppet dancing on strings alike. Ultimately, the choices that Satya makes in the face of such adversity - and the people she turns to to help her make them - will set a chain of events into motion that promise to change the world of Overwatch forever.
Relationships: Satya "Symmetra" Vaswani & Sombra | Olivia Colomar
Series: Games of Life & Death [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033533
Comments: 10
Kudos: 5





	1. Greater Designs

Walking down the gangway of the dropship felt like being led to her own hanging.

Sombra was the first to admit it, though she'd never have said it aloud, especially given who would have heard it. Something had gone wrong with the EMP at Versailles, something that she hadn't been able to fix. As a result, she had no other choice but to face the silent contempt from two of the deadliest people on the planet, both of whom had just had the opportunity of a lifetime yanked just out of reach.

And they had nobody to blame but her.

The entire way back, in the dim lights of the ship's main bay, not a single word had been spoken. Reaper and Widowmaker had never been ones for conversation, but the silence that grew between the pair and Sombra, accompanied by the assassin's wincing as she tied the bandages around her bullet-laden thigh tight and using the end to wipe up the trickling blood, was enough to make the hacker's blood turn to ice. Normally, Sombra had observed that the evil eyes they tended to point her way were accompanied by empty threats or at least a snarl that she could easily play off with witty comebacks, but not this time.

This time, if they had their way, looks really could kill.

As if that hadn't been enough to set off Sombra's internal alarm, Kowalski had stumbled in just before takeoff, the only Blackwatch operative who had returned in time; The rest she didn't know or care to know about. His voice rendered extremely nasally because of his broken, blood-spurting nose, he'd barely had time to utter:

"Reaper, sir, I can explain. The bastard jumped us, he-"

Before Kowalski's boss drew a shotgun and took his head clean off with one bullet. Sombra nearly jumped in her seat as the hapless lackey's corpse tripped backwards and rolled out of the ship just before the door slammed shut and the aircraft lifted off. Out of the corner of her eye and with fingertips glowing with purple energy, she watched with growing dread as he returned his weapon to within his overcoat and snarled viciously.

What followed was the most silent, tense, and life-threatening period of time in Sombra's recent memory.

Or at least, in the past decade...

At last, after a half-hour that felt like a lifetime, the ship had tucked away in a hangar in a Venetian mountainside. Sombra had departed first, though not of her own accord; Reaper refused to carry Widowmaker out before the hacker had gone first.

 _Great,_ she thought as she brushed her hair back off her implants. _Now they're using me as a meatshield._

With the angry accomplices tailing, she picked up her pace through the hangar in the hopes of avoiding what she knew was coming, but a deep baritone that perforated through the air put paid to that notion.

"I take it that things didn't quite go to plan?"

Sombra froze in her tracks like an animal caught on a busy road before slowly turning her head in the voice's direction. Fifteen feet away stood Akande Ogundimu, The Successor, the current Doomfist and head of Talon's Inner Council. Everything about him, from his tall, extremely well-muscled frame and eloquent speech pattern to his regal mannerisms and impeccable dress, commanded both respect and fear. Even without his eponymous, skyscraper-leveling gauntlet, he looked and sounded like a man who would share a polite conversation with someone one moment and - with nothing personal - crush their skull with his bare hands the next.

He spoke again, this time with a sharpened edge on his tone. "I asked you a question."

Sombra's breathing turned shallow between two increasingly rapid heartbeats. She turned lazily towards Doomfist and forced a flippant snicker, but she was barely able to keep the façade from shattering like a pane of glass when Reaper's sadistic chuckle rang out from behind. "I don't know. Did it?" he hissed.

Doomfist folded his arms behind his back as he drew closer. "I was speaking to the commander of the mission."

Sombra's dread turned to smug condescension in an instant. She rotated on her heels to see where Reaper now stood in place and smiled deviously at him. Doomfist, in turn, sent his own gaze towards the revenant through narrowed eyes. "Well?"

Reaper's answer was slow, but without hesitation. "The primary objective was successful. The Omnic dignitaries are dead."

"And Overwatch?"

Reaper tightened his fist until it shook. "They... got away," he spat.

Doomfist regarded him with fake surprise. "Really? I expected more from you, especially when opportunity presented itself so graciously."

"You have _her_ to thank for that."

Doomfist looked over at Sombra and raised an eyebrow, to which she grinned in appeasement before conjuring a holographic collage of headlines screaming bloody murder, once-jubilant crowds turning violent, and greasy commentators pointing fingers in wild directions. Most importantly, while the feeds showed and talked plenty on Overwatch and the Junkers that had been arrested, not a single second was devoted to Talon.

With the elegant raise of a hand and the slightest hint of satisfaction crossing his face, Doomfist bid Sombra to close the hologram, which she obliged as he turned to address them all.  
"Nevertheless, despite a few... unexpected setbacks, we have achieved something great," he proclaimed, eyes glinting with the same ambition that dripped from his rich voice. "Before tonight, the world had almost let itself believe the lies of progress that peace uses to entice the weak. Now, we have laid bare the truth, and we must be ready to spread it further to the masses. With Overwatch incapacitated and hated, they will hide under their rocks like cockroaches. Now is the time to move our pieces into place and prepare to take the next step in humanity's evolution. The seeds of conflict must not go untended, especially when the time is ripe as it is now."

At this point, an automated gurney whisked up behind Widowmaker, who let go of Reaper and gingerly let herself lie back on it as it slowly floated out of the hangar. Reaper, with similar silence, deformed into his black mist and shot off through the doorway.

As Sombra tried to follow suit, however, Doomfist placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do not think that you are getting away unnoticed," he said.

Sombra gently lifted his hand off and swayed her hips to one side and twirled her hair with one finger. "You know how it is," she cooed. "They laugh, they monologue, they torture, and in the end they kill more time than they do Overwatch agents."

Doomfist took no notice, much to Sombra's dismay; try as she had, he seemed to be the one person immune to her flippant charms. "True, but what they don't do is take risks. It is clear that you underestimate your enemies, an error they have learned not to commit." He raised his right hand and curled his fingers closed while turning his palm from facing outward to inward. "Perhaps they are correct and I should shorten your leash."

Taking advantage of his continued disregard, Sombra scowled and flipped him off, but quickly repealed it when his eyes flicked her way.

"Nevertheless," he continued. "you are still needed. Lacroix and Reyes will be out of commission until O'Deorain can tend to them. We will need another asset to take advantage of this opening, and I leave it to you to find them."

"Don't worry," she replied, hiding her emotions under flippancy as she leaned on his shoulder. "You know I don't let you down, boss."

"Except when you do." Before he walked off, he finally faced her with a stern glare. "You have been given a chance to amend your errors. For your sake, I suggest you take it. Remember: There are always greater designs. Take care of them, or they will take care of you."

As he left, Sombra stood alone, frowning. _Always playing the_ persona dura _with his fancy_ _talk_ , she thought, huffing once she was sure he was out of earshot. _It'll be fun to see what he's like when I'm_ _through._

Leaning against a wall next to the door, she summoned another hologram, this one containing extensive profiles of every single Omnic that had perished in the ballroom. With one hand she scrolled through the list, while with the other she sifted through them for anything of worth. Fat and easily hacked bank accounts, of which there were many, were always of use, as were connections between other, still-living persons of influence. Dirty secrets among this crowd, however, were surprisingly light. She'd found over the years that the big names always had the juiciest pieces of blackmail material, but this crowd was thinner than most with regards to those, a realization that made her shrug. _Guess they really did want to help everyone. Ah well, what can you do?_

What she did find she stored away for later, but what she didn't find made her seethe and rest her head on her arm. Despite having unfettered access to beings who had occupied every social, economic, and political ivory tower she could think of, she couldn't find a single bread crumb that lent another means by which to crack the code of The Conspiracy, her life's work and the reason why she'd joined Talon in the first place. The only things she did find were retreads, connections that she had found and leeched for all they were worth years prior.

 _Shit._ She swiped away the hologram and sighed loudly. While this wasn't the first time that potential big leads had dried up, it was certainly one of the most disappointing letdowns. Worse still, it had been one of a string of dead ends she had gone down recently. Avenues that had held promise, like Volskaya and Lumerico, had turned out to be further away from the centre of _La Conspiracion_ than hoped, and now with her usual free reign under threat the race was on to compile the last few pieces of the puzzle before they could close in.

A goal that would prove impossible without another fresh lead.

She closed her eyes and curled her arms over her torso as a light-headed sense of dread overtook her. Her 'greater designs' had been greater than anything Doomfist could ever have dreamed of, yet they were so much more fragile. She was so close that the feeling that she could just reach out and grab everything she'd ever wanted tightened under her ribcage, and yet the sad reality that there was no further she could reach before the bottom dropped out panged just as strongly and drooped her shoulders and head in dejection.

Then it hit her. Like a freight train going a hundred miles an hour, it hit her.

She knew just who to pick.

Opening her eyes and brushing her hair back once more, Sombra called forth another hologram and flipped through the files of the dignitaries at the speed of a woman possessed, looking for two names, one of whom had been represented by one of the surviving guests. The other, while having not been present, was mentioned in their profile and was undoubtedly the most important part.

When she finally found what she was looking for in the file of one of the guests she separated it into another screen, where it flourished into a plethora of photos, news clippings, and videos that served as a showcase for the people in question.  
A wicked smile crept across her face and her eyes twinkled with promise. The names she had chosen were readily available and, she knew, would suit just fine, both for Doomfist's request and for providing the last steps by which to finally grasp her hands around that which she wanted most.

The first was Vishkar, the guest's employer.

The second was said guest's direct subordinate and someone unparalleled at altering reality: Satya Vaswani.


	2. Hierarchy

"... And in the third quarter, we can expect all current assets to increase their output by fifteen percent, as well as at least six new projects in the downtown regions and suburbs of the city to be greenlit. I've run the numbers myself, and the resulting economic upswing should finally push the Vishkar Coin to within striking distance of the top of the global exchange."

The rotund man on the holo-screen reached up to his turban, devoting his attention to tucking in an errant piece. "What about local resistance?" he inquired. "The Board's faith in your work is shaken every time a revolt breaks out in whatever little mudhole you're operating in."

Sanjay Korpal clasped his hands together and leaned forward over the projection, forcing a grin over growing frustration as old sets of data were swept aside for newer, more contextually pertinent ones. "Rest assured," he said. "we have taken extensive measures to pacify Rio's populace. Public demonstrations are held weekly in the marketplaces and favelas, and the names of what few firebrands are left are plastered across every street corner."

The presentee next checked over the lapels of his suit, brushing them down. "The board will want something quantifiable to compliment that statement."

Sanjay raised a finger to buy a moment as he searched the holo-table's control board for the right button, smiling with a mildly sycophantic air to try to attract the man's beady-eyed interest for once. After a few seconds of stomach-churning tensity, the blue-tinted charts that rose from the tabletop dissolved away and their place was taken by several mugshots and looped videos of Vishkar paramilitary escorting scowling Brazilians away in handcuffs.

"With the arrests of several of dos Santos' accomplices in the uprisings last month," Sanjay continued. "general unrest has been down by forty percent. Security presence has been tripled in active zones, while surveillance now covers eighty nine percent of the area within city limits and the greater metropolitan territory surrounding it. If that rebel decides to show his face in Vishkar territory again, he will be a dead man with nowhere to hide and no one to turn to."

At last the overseer finally looked Sanjay's way, to which he went from sighing exasperatedly to waiting with the patient eagerness of a child receiving a present faster than the eye could blink. Internally though, something deep inside made him want to just scream.

The rotund man sniffed in loudly and stroked his silvery goatee. "Very well," he sighed. "You always manage to come through, Sanjay. Not by much, but still. The Board will extend your tenure as chief of operations in Rio."

Sanjay beamed and spread his posture wide. "Thank you very much, Executive Gupta. I give you my word that I will continue to meet your expectations."

"That's what I'm worried about," the executive stated bluntly.

With that, the screen cut out with a flash of static and dissipated into thin air.

Sanjay finally allowed himself to breathe in as he turned off the display, letting his shoulders drop and his feet drag as he trudged into his office and nearly flopped into his chair. _By gods_ , he thought, massaging his temples as he did. _How did this get so hard?_

Looking back, two years ago - though it could have been a millennium for all he cared - seemed like such a simpler time. Between organizing field operations for Vishkar's most prized assets and dealing under the table with potential new partners, things had been going easily, but steadily. It was work he knew he could do well in and serve both his employer's interests, and he had done it with impressively ruthless zeal. Now, however, because of Vishkar's importance in the eyes of his moonlighting job, the corporate ladder he'd dedicated his life to climbing was being done so ten steps at a time instead of three. For the past five months all of Rio de Janeiro's divisions had reported directly to him, a level of power that he'd have literally killed for in the past.

That, however, wasn't the problem that made him keep the lights off in his office for fear of aggravating a chronic migraine, nor was it even the post-traumatic stress of being caught blind to Talon's raid on the Versailles gala that he'd weaseled his way into representing Vishkar for less than a day prior. Rather, between it, fulfilling Talon's obligations, and keeping on the deadline for his own personal pet project, the balancing act he'd been forced to pull off was nothing short of Herculean, and at times like these it left him almost wishing for a return to the quiet routine of yesteryear. Thinking about it prompted a snicker: For a moment, he could have mistaken himself for his most successful underling. There was, after all, a good reason why the two had taken a liking to each other all those years ago.

But where they differed, he reminded himself as he sat back up straight, was in their ambition.

In spite of the extra effort, Sanjay's position had afforded him a considerable amount of power. Where previously he'd been little more than a messenger and a handler, he now had sway beyond many thought possible within the rigid structure of Vishkar, ironic considering the materials that they worked with.

Reflecting upon it made him shiver with pride; Not only was this influence able to be put to use for his own gains within the company, but it allowed him to finally be able to go toe-to-toe with the rest of the Inner Council during their regular spats. Not only was he in the cabal that dictated the course of history, he was finally nearing an equal level of some of the most powerful men, women, and... _things_ , to have ever lived. The best part was that if, or rather when, he could finally get his hands on the last pieces needed to complete Project Legion, even they wouldn't be able to match him.

And yet, even just in the interim it wasn't perfect. Even though he practically ran an entire city, sat in the presence of gods and monsters, and was on the verge of nothing short of godhood himself, he was still kissing up.

On one side, he knew, the Board saw him as an ambitious worm, sniveling his way into positions he didn't deserve and aiming greedily for still-higher rungs. On the other end, he was most often the easiest punching bag for those gods and monsters on the Council, a group of corporate cutthroats who wouldn't have shed a tear had their fellow member been the only human casualty of Versailles, even if it meant losing out on their investments.

Thankfully, he had an ally at his side until Project Legion was finished and the spotlight of Oasis finally came calling.

That's where _she_ came in.

Suddenly, the holoprojector on Sanjay's desk activated, a blue tint widening out from an origin point in the middle of the structure. As it grew, so did an image of a lavender sugar skull. "Speak of the devil," he murmured.

The picture morphed gradually until it showed Sombra, standing with one arm crossed over her torso and her other propped upright, her elbow resting on the crossed arm. She had her usual sly look on her face and her eyes twinkled. " _Q_ _ue onda_ , Sanjay? It's been too long," she cooed. "You still liking your job? I saw it in the window one day and the first person I thought of was you."

Sanjay rolled his eyes under a blink, thinking that she wouldn't catch it. "You're as thoughtful and altruistic as ever, Sombra."

"Now now _amigo._ Sarcasm's my thing, remember? You've got a lot to thank me for. I mean, what would have happened if those guards had pulled you aside in Versailles?"

"Of course," Sanjay replied tersely, keeping down his boiling contempt. "To what do I owe your call?"

Sombra chuckled. "Short and sweet on the pleasantries, are we? Oh well, I can run with it." She unfolded her arms and brushed back her hair over to one side. "You remember that little talk we had, say, about two years ago?"

Sanjay broke eye contact upon her mentioning and loosened the collar of his suit, while his eyes blinked rapidly and silently wandered around the room. All the while Sombra watched patiently, enjoying every moment of him squirming.

Finally, she broke the awkward silence. "I'll take that as a no, so I'll get you back up to speed. I assume the name Guillermo Portero is a familiar one, _si_?"

Sanjay didn't answer, but he did finally look back at her, this time with a sour face that only grew more so as the e-mails of his rapport with the Lumerico CEO popped up on the projector.

"Vialli wasn't happy that you didn't get Lumerico into the fold," she chided. "and Doomfist sure as _infierno_ wouldn't be either if he learned that you were working with a usurper."

Sanjay rustled in his chair; It was a hard, but important moment that she stirred memories of. He'd sat at the Council's table with most of the rest of them that night, watching as Doomfist and his shadowy right hand returned from their 'meeting' with Vialli, knowing that his assurances of extra funding for Project Legion and good word in with the Ministers had been wiped away in a single stroke, if they hadn't been already due to the Lumerico disaster. His ability to keep a game face, a trick he'd learned over years of corporate politicking, had hidden him from certain death through the night, but with Doomfist's return there were no guarantees as to the future, hence why Sombra had approached him as he'd sat down for a private drink the night after. Five minutes and two sips of tequila later, she'd managed to break through every layer he'd put up and boil him down to a simple, malleable tool for her own ends, a humiliation worse than any that Maximilien could have inflicted at a dry business table.

That night, she had promised him safety for a price, and now the time had come to return the favour.

Though she'd spent the next two years lording over him with his most damning secrets and the thought of potential duplicity on her part caused many a sleepless night, he also knew that what she promised was something he desperately needed. All he had to do was kiss up to one more person, put up with one more source of flippancy and humiliation for just a bit longer.

At least, until, he had the tools to double-cross the queen of all double-crossers.

His face hardened and he rolled his shoulders back. "Name your terms."

Sombra's face lit up with mocking glee. "Oh, I'm _so_ glad you asked!" she squealed, raising her hands to her chest and clapping them swiftly. "This mean you'll finally open up on what goes on down in that little _casita_?"

Sanjay placed his elbow on the table as his eyes half-closed, as though to wordlessly ask why she was posing a question to which he'd already given the answer. There was a fine line between desperation and stupidity in his book, and anything about Council meetings was where it had long been etched, lest his rivals be given the perfect reason to do what they wished with him.

Sombra, in return, took her own opportunity to roll her eyes. "Ugh, fine, have it your way. I've got another favour to ask anyways. See, after Gabe turned Versailles into his own personal fiasco - though I don't need to remind you of that,"  
She chuckled as Sanjay placed a hand to his temple before continuing. " _el gran jefe_ wants another high-skill piece to add into play. He asked me to find someone and I thought 'I know who can get me just the right person.'"

"Well, Vishkar has many exceptional field operatives," he answered in his sycophantic tone, underlying it with a venomous subtext. "Why come here?"

Sombra laughed. "Y'know, I think I'm beginning to see why the Board hates you. Let's see..." Her fingers walked over thin air as she pretended to flip through an open file cabinet. "who's in Rio right now that'd do the trick? I'll give you a hint: You know her pretty well."

The implication was simple to follow, but even so it made Sanjay slouch over his desk with his head in his hand. Satya had proven herself time and again to be dedicated and highly competent and she would certainly fulfill Doomfist's needs, but pieces like her, he'd learned, tended to be wild cards when brought into this particular kind of game. Compassion like what she'd shown during the Kalado incident and respect during the Suravasa project were certainly soothing ideals to think of, but outside of Vishkar's bubble they tended to warp and confuse when contrasted against a dangerous world and lead to moments of rash unpredictability, the notion of which churned his stomach.

_But maybe..._

His eyes glimmered as an idea lit up in his brain and a pondering look carried itself as he inclined himself back up straight. It made sense; if the wild card was the centerpiece, you could build around it to make sure that the game turned out in your favour no matter where it fell, something that Sombra was skilled at to an infuriating degree.

And with Oasis, Project Legion, and finally getting one-up on Maximilien on the line, how could he have possibly turned her down?

"What's in it for us?" he inquired, keeping his voice calm and low.

A coy smile spread across Sombra's lips as she cocked her head to one side. "You'll see. All you need to do is pull a few strings, get her off to a good start, and I'll do the rest. Once she's helped me, I'll help you. Oasis will be eating out of your hand, Project Legion will be the must-have toy this _Navidad_ , and the big _tarado_ and his sidekicks won't be able to touch you."

Sanjay's game face restrained his enthusiasm, but it drained away as Sombra's raised eyebrow showed her, as per usual, seeing straight through it.

"I've already sent you a file with the details on it," she said. "You'll want to get to work nice and quick; I can't _wait_ to see the results." Her holographic image leaned into Sanjay's face, where she raised a finger and tapped his nose. "Boop!"

With that, the feed cut out on her end and Sanjay was left in the dark of the office.

Only wasting a moment to catch his breath and curse the hacker under his breath, he rolled his chair to the side of the desk that his computer rested on and brought up the instructions with a few quick types, reading over Sombra's plan for the unfortunate architech. Even so, his stomach still churned as the fine line he continued to walk with every scroll of the screen made itself even more prevalent; if this wild card didn't turn out right, he knew, there'd be no escaping fate like what had happened that one night in Venice.

A devious grin to match any Sombra could give, though, soon formed as another revelation lit up. He could make sure she'd go in the right direction if he could bring her to the right location and, more importantly, give her the right reasons.

Two things he knew she would readily accept.


	3. Upheaval

It was too early for the alarm to go off.

Dawn had barely even entertained the idea of peeking over the horizon when the obnoxious buzzing of Satya Vaswani's phone juxtaposed itself with a flowing sitar melody set to a high volume. Together, they created a cacophony of unexpected sound that pierced the silent serenity of her bedroom and brought her to the conscious world in an instant, though sight as she rubbed her heavy eyes and movement as she sat up and groaned with stiffness were much slower to come.

Despite still straddling the line between asleep and awake, though, discerning the time of morning was no trouble. _This is too early,_ she thought, mouthing it out as she flipped the covers back and let her prosthetic left arm finish taking shape from its hard-light conjuration. Sliding over to her nightstand and reading the time on the small analog clock that quietly ticked away gave further clarification: Thirty-five minutes and four seconds too early, to be precise.

Her brow tightened; she could have sworn that she'd set the alarm to exactly five o'clock, the same time she'd set it to the night before, and the night before that, and for every other night going back to when she'd first been sent to the Academy. It simply made no sense as to why this had been any different, and trying to comprehend it in the ungodly hours of the morning was a task very quickly proving to be not worth any trouble beyond shaking her head, resetting the alarm for the right time, and sinking back under the covers until then.

Until she picked up and opened the phone, the sound died down, and she realized it wasn't her alarm.

Mentally, Satya cursed herself for not picking up the difference between the two sounds, even in her current state; she was better than such a mistake and she knew it. Nevertheless, she also knew, it didn't change what she saw. On the phone's main, transparent, blue-tinted screen, an envelope icon jiggled back and forth to show that a message had been sent her way, one labelled _**From Sanjay: URGENT**_. Despite the clarification, however, her questions as to why remained swimming in the early morning fog, but with the last bits of sleepiness clinging with a tightness that she knew couldn't be dislodged until breakfast, she decided it wasn't worth devoting effort to speculation.

Especially when opening the image and reading it for herself provided all the answers she wanted.

* * *

**To whom it may concern,**

**This is a notice that the receiver, Ms. Satya Vaswani, has received a promotion from her current status as Architech within the Vishkar Corporation. This notice is also to inform the receiver that she has been granted a long-term transfer away from her current Division. The Board offers its sincerest commendations.**

**The promotion in question will see her assume the position of Chief of Field Architecture and Operations within the Division of the City of Higher New York within the Vishkar Corporation. These changes are effective immediately and the receiver is expected to be at Galeao International at precisely five-thirty AM, Brasilia Standard Time, to meet the private flight to her new position. Again, the Board offers its commendations for her promotion.**

**It is expected that she will show outstanding capability in her new station.**

**Sincerely,**

**Sanjay Korpal, Overseer of the Division within the City of Rio de Janeiro.**

* * *

Satya brushed back her hair off her face and shoulders as she closed her phone, taking a deep breath in relief with this particular crisis averted. Inclining her head towards the ceiling, she scooted towards the headboard of her bed until her back was pressed against it. Between the cool breeze of her fan and the steady ticking of her clock, her eyes grew heavier still, and the desire to simply embrace the comfort and slip back underneath the covers was oh so tantalizing.

Until, she remembered, she had somewhere to be.

In an instant Satya jolted out of bed and onto her feet. In the unending bustle of the streets of Rio, she knew there was no accounting for how much time it would take to go from downtown to the outskirts, so the logic was simple: The sooner she be ready to leave, the better.

Thankfully, she was well-prepared.

Upon exiting her bed with all possible speed, a blue flash created by an elegant hand motion went through her bedroom and the rest of her apartment. As the glow faded after a few seconds, the holoprojector in the palm of her prosthetic hand flashed a long list of items, a peerlessly efficient means of taking inventory of her possessions as so to recreate them in hard-light for later. Normally, such a procedure wasn't needed, but having it on hand was a useful precaution for times such as this.

Her packing done as the inventory disappeared, a speedy walk took her out of the bedroom, while a few gestures changed her pajamas into a business suit with another flash of blue. Before she could go much further than the living room, however, she froze in her tracks as another critical realization took root.

She wasn't following her routine.

Every morning for as long as she'd been in Vishkar's employ, no matter how busy life had been, Satya had always been able to keep a strict, orderly morning schedule, and she found herself looking longingly towards the kitchen as a result. Upon getting up, she'd fix herself a cup of green Darjeeling tea and a pair of toasted rice cakes topped with a light curry, followed by a fifteen minute period between a warm shower and leaving to practice her dancing, just enough to go through the motions, get the blood circulating, and re-center herself as so to best face a day's challenges.

This morning, though, had been so early and so chaotic that it slipped her mind.

 _Chaotic_. Satya shuddered at the notion. Everything she had ever been taught, everything she had ever seen since she was a young child in the miserable slums of Hyderabad had taught her that chaos must always be stamped out, that it brings pain and poverty to everyone it touches, and that those same people must be taught the error of their ways for letting it poison them. Chaos' natural enemy was order, and Satya had taken every measure to shut out the former and keep the latter ever since she was a child. Her morning routine, the clock, the dancing, the architecture, the field work, every path she had taken had been to remove such egregious influences.

Now, however, it all felt like it was being upheaved.

A hand over her chest caught her racing heart; never had she even so much as entertained the thought of forgoing her daily ritual. To do so was patently unthinkable, and between a growling stomach and a troubled mind she could practically smell the hot, strong tea brewing...

But no, she reminded herself with a jerk of her head back towards the door and the resuming of her speedy pace. There were things to do and deadlines to meet, and if there was one agent of chaos she and Vishkar alike despised more than the breaking of routine, it was a lack of punctuality. Besides, leaving for a city she'd never been before brought the promise of new opportunities, a fresh chance to start anew and bring about a new reality.

Especially when the reality of where she was brought back old memories every time she looked out the kitchen window...

She shut her eyes and slowed her breath, repeating a mantra as her stomach inflated and deflated and the tension in her shoulders melted away, a simple phrase that had served her well through thick and thin.

" _Order through peace, peace through calm, calm through order. Order through peace, peace through calm, calm through order._ "

With each repetition, Satya's voice grew lower and lower before the sound floating off her lips joined the burden throbbing in her mind in oblivion, leaving behind only clarity and focus. Resuming her previous pace, she pushed back her hair with a constructed headband and tied it into a bun as she exited out into the hallway. _So begins a new journey_ , she thought. _A new chance, a new frontier, and a new place to bring order to_.

She could never have expected what was to come.

* * *

Satya had guessed right: Even at this hour, Rio didn't sleep.

The route from her hotel to the airport shuttle was short but indirect, taking her down twisting, half-finished, dirt-paved streets made narrow by bikes and vending carts and footballs and people and every other item imaginable in amongst the sardine-packed buildings that stretched overhead like rickety metal tree branches. All the while, as she tried not to trip or bump into anything obscured by what few dim streetlights could be found, she was subjected to bombardment by countless foreign smells that burned her nostrils, the percussive pounding of music that resonated in her stomach, the endless din of people's voices that rang in her ears, and radiant shades of purple, green, red, blue, and whatever other colours could be made out along the walls that caught her directly in the eye and forced her to flinch and raise a hand to act as a visor. Together, they created what Satya could only think of as a gauntlet of chaos through which to run, a siege upon the senses not unfamiliar, but unique to Rio, and one that she had feared ever since the day it had first threatened to overwhelm her.

A day long past, but marked so clearly it could have been yesterday.

Her mind, struggling to block out the confusion and keep herself focused, drew towards the memory like a moth to a flame. Rosa, the youngster she had met in amongst the crowd that day, had been dirt-covered and dressed in rags, but her face was a diamond in the rough, her warm smile, innocent eyes, and soft features an island of perfection in an sea of misery. Her kindness, most of all, was what stood out; without the girl's help, Satya knew, she might never have found her way back to the hotel.

But every day, she wished the two had never met.

As quickly as it appeared, Rosa's face morphed into something darker, an angelic radiance in the eye of the storm tainted by outside forces and their sinister agendas. The last time Satya had seen her had been almost two years ago, first cradled helpless and vulnerable in her arms amidst a ball of smoke and fire, and then one time a few months later, alive but... _Damaged._ Her eyes had hardened with experience given well before it should have been, and burn scars crossed her face like the claws of a predator. Even in amidst a crowd of hundreds, the child's angry, piercing glaze had singled Satya out, silently blaming her for the fiery chaos that had erupted and for failing the promise she'd made upon thanking the girl to make the city a better place.

It was a vision that still drew cold sweats and bolted her awake at night...

She breathed in deeply, straightening her posture and reserving her expressions as she continued onward, following a GPS that she summoned out of thin air. _That was then_ , she reminded herself. _And this is now._ _I haven't seen her since then, so she's probably fine. She's likely living in one of the new districts, enjoying a life of comfort and order._

The appearance of a sleek white hover-bus in amongst the grime and colour alerted her to her arrival, allowing the GPS to dissipate as she boarded and took a seat.

_Yes, that's it. She's alright. Given what Vishkar's done for the city, she has to be._

As the bus took off, Satya rubbed her temples, nursing a sudden headache.

* * *

It had only just subsided when the bus came to a halt and Satya stepped out of it and through the front doors, where she was promptly met by a pair of armed guards in uniforms emblazoned with the Vishkar logo. "Architech Vaswani?" one of them barked. "We're here on orders to escort you through the airport. There is a plane waiting for you on the runway."  
The man lowered his weapon and pointed past the seemingly endless line of terminals and checkpoints towards a single clear route, a hole in an otherwise unbroken wall of security that led out towards the general area.

Satya split her gaze between the two, her posture loose but her face reflecting a mild confusion. "Thank you," she said. "but what about the terminal?"

"Don't worry about it, ma'am," the other one, a woman, replied. "Overseer Korpal's orders. It's all taken care of." She gestured for the unhindered route while her partner circled around behind Satya. "Now if you'll come with us..."

A light, comfortable smile crossed Satya's lips. "Of course," she replied while obliging the guards' request by starting off in the direction of the bypass.

The walk was wordless and long, giving Satya's mind and eyes ample time to wander. Looking around, she raised her eyes in mild surprise; even for this time of morning the building was relatively quiet, marked only by the occasional passerby speaking with their significant other or rushing to meet their flight, the echo of an announcement regarding a delay or departure over the P.A. system, or a headphone-wearing Omnic curled up in a chair across from a café that smelled enticingly of fresh-baked pastries, reading from a travel brochure. Walking past the windows, the first drops of a golden dawn provided a backdrop for the silhouettes of gigantic airliners at their boarding ramps, aluminum beasts waiting in silent patience as service vehicles zipped around their wheels like insects.

Watching it all gave Satya an odd, unique sense that made her look down at her feet as she processed it. She'd flown before, but every time the experience had been... _Confusing_. Airports had a contrasting quality about them to her, one defined by moments of hectic tension and slow relaxation, of rigid scheduling and carefree waiting, intertwined with each other almost at random. It was an inconsistency she'd never been able to decide was inherently good or bad, but one she was certain she wouldn't enjoy for her life like some other Architechs within the company did. After all, she'd made her routine so orderly already, so why try anything different?

Her ponderings were brought to a halt as she stepped through a glass door onto the tarmac, momentarily raising an arm over her eyes as the morning sun glared across the open space. As her vision adjusted and she lowered her arm, she watched the guards stand aside as Sanjay approached her, a small business jet sitting behind him with an open hatch. Stopping at arm's length from each other, they each offered a bow before starting for the jet side by side.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Ms. Vaswani," Sanjay said, slick but professional. "I assume you are looking forward to your new position?"

Between the sun and the early hour, Satya was forced to raise her hand again to conceal a yawn. "Without a doubt," she managed to say before it subsided. "I've never been to Higher New York before. I'm very eager to see what a testament to order Vishkar has made it to be."

Sanjay chuckled. "Good to see you optimistic so early. I normally don't wish to interfere with my best agent's usual schedule, but the order came directly from the top that they wanted you immediately. If it's any consolation, I have taken the liberty of having breakfast prepared for the flight."

Without noticing it, the mention of breakfast made Satya pick up her pace ever so slightly. At the same time, she thought she could make out the smell of her favourite curry on the rice cakes, wafting through the morning air.

Sanjay, seeing her attention was being tugged in another direction, laughed again. "Before you ask, there is tea inside as well and yes, it is green Darjeeling."

His voice broke Satya away from the hypnotic aroma and brought her realization of her actions and a subsequent wave of embarrassment. "You're too kind, sir," she said, bowing humbly. "I apologize for my conduct."

"Don't worry about it," he assured as he reached the first steps up to the cabin and climbed aboard. "You can eat while you look over the file I've prepared. I assure you, Higher New York is unlike any other city you have ever seen. Even Utopaea itself pales in comparison."

Satya, though, wasn't paying full attention again. Walking up the stairs, the pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges of the sunrise now reached the city itself. Though much of it shimmered with the pristine, blue and white brilliance of new Vishkar buildings, just as much was still enveloped by the old ones and their kaleidoscope of mixing colours and irregular shapes and sizes. Seeing the sharp contrast swelled up old memories and feelings one more time, causing her stomach to churn further and the headache she'd been nursing to call for the attention of a hand to her temple again.

Her reflection was interrupted by her overseer's rhetorical question. "Are you coming?" he called down. "A new reality awaits, my friend. You don't want to miss it."

Letting her chest expand and contract as a deep, steadying breath slowly made its way in and out, she made her way into the plane and took a seat as it taxied out onto the runway. Sanjay was right, she knew. A new life beckoned, one that promised more peace, more potential to solve problems, and more ways to bring order to a troubled world.

Just before the plane soared into the heavens, she spared one last look out onto the rainbow of chaotic colouration known as Rio de Janeiro, bidding it a silent "good riddance" under her breath as a smile crossed her face and the uneasiness inside of her turned to butterflies.

_Higher New York, here I come._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I'll try to get back to the regular schedule, but I can't make any promises.
> 
> If you're enjoying the story so far, please let me know in the comments or with your Kudos.


	4. Similar, But Different

Higher New York was a city above all others, both figuratively and literally.

Despite never having physically been to the city before, Satya had seen numerous holovids and pictures of its gleaming skyline up amongst the clouds, each time feeling a tremendous sense of wonder and desire to see it for herself that soared almost as high.

None of it, however, compared to what she now viewed out the window of the jet as it circled above, readying for its final descent.

The city floated a mile above the original one, now known as Lower New York, making even the canopy of the once-legendary concrete jungle seem like they were the size of wooden toys. The Higher section itself was immense, a circular colossus that hung over the entire five boroughs, all of it held in the air on the power of a cluster of anti-gravity repulsors rounding the edge. Within the elevated utopia's perimeter stood what had enamoured Satya from the beginning; Under a climate-controlled dome stood great towering lines of flawless blue skyscrapers, each one a marriage of the rigid systems and planning of Vishkar and the creative yet orderly flowing curves and ambitious designs of contemporary hard-light architecture.

From behind where she sat, Sanjay smiled and leaned in close. "I told you it was unlike anything you've seen," he whispered in her ear.

Internally, Satya kept the rush of joy tucked tightly away, while externally she adopted flawless posture and a diplomatic regality to her mannerisms. "It's perfect," she replied. "A testament to the order that we bring and the prosperity that it walks hand in hand with."

Sanjay laughed as he straightened out in his own seat. "I am glad to see you haven't forgotten what the Academy taught you."

"I don't forget anything," she boasted. Such an ability, a natural photographic memory honed to the point of perfection, was something that had been both a blessing and a curse in times past, much to her equal parts pride and disdain.

Looking down at the city as the plane came in, though, set aside the stress of memory for the energy of eager anticipation, drawing her back to the promises she'd held onto hours earlier. New opportunities came with a term that had captivated her ever since the time she'd first heard it: _Tabula Rasa_ , a clean slate, the ability to go back to the beginning and make things right from the ground up.

An ability, like all the rest at her disposal, she intended to exploit.

"Ah yes," Sanjay said. "those remarkable traits. They will serve you well, I'm sure. I only wish I could get the chance to see them in action again."

Satya inclined her head as her eyes widened with confusion. "I'm not sure what you mean," she queried. "I assumed you would be returning to handling. Your notice and the fact that you were waiting at the jet are standard procedures-"

"-That were insisted upon by the person who promoted you. I still have Rio to attend to, not to mention a few... other projects." An ambitious slyness slipped over his face as he looked out his own window towards the city. "Between you and I, I'm waiting on a promotion myself. You'll meet your new handler when we arrive in the city."

"Oh." Satya's arms folded gently over her stomach, combatting the butterflies that had made their return. "Very well then."

As she gazed back out the window, she noticed that the plane had completely passed over the glistening jewel in the sky and was descending towards a patch of dirt directly north. Her expression growing more puzzled she looked back over at Sanjay. "Speaking of when we arrive, how come we aren't landing in the city? I read that the bio-dome has a retractable section just over the airport."

"True," he replied plainly, crossing his legs. "But we are going to land to the north and enter the city from the ground."

Ever so slightly, her confusion hardened into annoyance. "That is terribly inefficient. Why waste time travelling by land into the city when we can land directly inside it?"

Sanjay smile added teeth raised a finger and pointed it at Satya. "You're keen, but you don't catch everything. I have orders to show you around, make sure you get the lay of the land."

"From the top?"

"From the top. But even if it weren't, I would have done this anyway."

"What is it then?" Satya asked, her feeling extending to her voice with a sharpening edge. "What is your point?"

Sanjay's slyness returned with a glimmer in his eyes "Wait and see. It will all make sense soon enough, trust me."

Just then, the plane made contact with the runway, mildly jostling its occupants as it bumped across the grass-filled cracks in the aged pavement, an unpleasantry that Satya let manifest as a short, tight, blink.

Thankfully, however, it soon ended as the plane came to a halt.

Stepping onto the tarmac as the steps opened up, she surveyed the area until she caught sight of the city again. Craning her neck back in order to see it, it now looked like a floating citadel, a massive ship in the heavens, casting a shadow so huge that it even stretched out to this rural stretch several miles away. Still, though, she perceived it no differently. No other city had the prestige, amenities, or aesthetics of Higher New York, let alone have it all suspended in the heavens to be marveled at by the world.

A tap on her shoulder unpleasantly snapped her attention back to reality. She whirled around and repulsed back, shooting Sanjay a stern look that immediately reminded him that she didn't like people touching her. He raised his hands defensively and smiled in earnest, waiting for her expression to soften into a neutral phase before pointing her in the direction of a self-driving hover-limousine. Satya noted to herself that its presence answered one question as she stepped inside, hearing the doors close as she watched Sanjay enter from the other side.

The other answers, she'd soon find out, were to come.

As they entered and the vehicle glided its way towards the city, the towers of steel and cement that were the Lower section could be seen up close. Satya had read that in the days before the Crisis, the old city had once been the shining centerpiece of America's east coast the same way the new one was now, how it had been a tightly-packed megacity that over its long history had attracted artists, movie stars, cultural icons, pioneers of fashion, and giants of business, who had walked the streets alongside countless immigrants looking for new lives and impoverished citizens eking out a living through any means they could.  
The striking quality of the similarity between it, Rio, and even back in her long-forsaken home of Hyderabad brought a quizzical musing to the forefront of her mind. _Some things never change_ , she thought, a sentiment that, like her penchant for memory, could bless or curse.

She could only hope that what Sanjay showed her did the former.

As the limo entered the overcast of the city, the sun's warm covering began to fade away into cold, overbearing darkness, obscured by the titanic object overhead. The car glided through several parks and suburbs, wild and untamed since the days of the Crisis, even still occasionally marked by the rusting corpse of a Bastion or an OR-14. "I'm not sure what I am supposed to be seeing here," she remarked, a slight impatience marking her tone.

"You're not," Sanjay said bluntly. The car began to decelerate as he continued. "These parts are left to the wolves. The purpose of this trip is just to your left."

She leaned towards the window on her other side, where she saw a round concrete complex standing out amongst a series of decrepit neighbourhoods and fields, a fortress enclosing a dusty park that evoked memories of the cricket fields back home. A crooked, bullet-riddled sign above stated the building's name: Yankee Stadium.

The most notable difference between it and a cricket field though, Satya observed, was that it now served as a literal fortress.

Pockmarks ranging from pinprick-sized to almost a metre across lined the park's grey exterior, a grim reminder of the city's past. As the limo began to circle the block, crumbled sections of the stadium came into view, where parts of the grandstand that had fallen away gave the building a Colosseum-esque appearance and a glimpse of what was inside. Where there had once been grass and painted lines now stood a shanty town in a dusty crater, packed with multitudes far greater in numbers than what the park had ever seen in its glory days. For Sayta, it was a sight that moved her sentiment regarding change uncomfortably close to the opposite direction.

Even more so in that regard was that many of the rag-wearing denizens of the repurposed park sat in the upper levels of its exterior, inside makeshift wooden watchtowers that appeared ready to collapse at any moment, looking out from walkways and old concession stands with angry, desperate stares and waving crude wooden signs painted with racist slogans.

From the loudspeakers inside the storied stadium, static-y broadcasts mentioning the names of men Satya had never heard before, performing exploits to the adulation of jubilant throngs long since passed, mixed in with the collective voices of the sign wavers singing a tune as ancient as it was mournful and pointed. Though the words didn't fit, the context that Satya deduced was transparent.

"Do you know why they're singing?" Sanjay asked as he leaned over towards her, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," she replied. "They believe that they've been wronged. I read in the file that the entire city banded together during the invasion. Every person contributed to the defense, from open fighting in the borough of Queens, to setting traps on the island of Manhattan, to running messages across the rivers after the bridges were destroyed. Airports, a museum ship, and this park were turned into fortresses, and guerrilla war was waged with whatever they could muster, even refitting a ferry as a gunboat to patrol the bay. Despite the odds, after ten years of fighting, they were victorious."

"The people rebuilt the city again," Sanjay said in turn. "but as usual, it was imperfect, hence why we came. But even then, even as we shared our plans for a better city, they couldn't see the truth. First they were offered a chance to share in the future and then a chance to leave, but it turns out New York's stubborn reputation is well-founded." His face and voice soured further and further until he was nearly spitting his contempt out with each syllable. "The company was barred from doing business in the city until a year ago, and protests have been almost nonstop ever since the Higher city was finally created."

"Why not force them out?"

Sanjay laughed in the manner of a person who had heard an innocent child say something idealistic. "We tried, but they resisted us as fiercely as they did the Omnics. Eventually, we settled on a truce."

Satya didn't respond, at least not verbally. _We?_

The limo picked up speed as it finished circling the block and left Yankee Stadium in its wake. Finally, Satya spoke up. "Is that why you wanted me here?"

Sanjay's response came in the form of a subtle look off to the right. Now they were in a former neighbourhood, filled with thin, tall houses made from brownstone, the cracks and decay on them much fresher than that of the ballpark. In among the residences, Satya saw women with sickly pale skin and heavy bags under sunken eyes ply a sad trade on streetcorners, vagabonds in torn coats and frayed shoes wander aimlessly down sidewalks, and manic-grinned drug peddlers sell a few minutes of bliss to hopeless customers. All the while, protesters again waved vitriol-filled signs and played loud music that was nearly a hundred years old. Unlike the sports complex, however, the residents sent their hateful slurs by way of shouted words alongside thrown pieces of refuse. Satya instinctively flinched as a rotten egg stained the window and offended her with its awful smell.

She looked across to Sanjay's seat, leaning slightly forward with a rising incredulity. "This is a truce?"

"A price that must be paid, regrettably. We're not there yet, though."

She closed her eyes and straightened her posture, but the rebellious rhythm stung in her ears even as the limo left it in its wake. If this wasn't the extent of the chaos that crawled in the shadow of greatness, she thought, then she was loath to discover just what was.

A discovery that was about to become inevitable.

Finally, the car reached its destination, an elevator in the heart of Times Square that stretched up to the Higher city, the single point of connection between the two levels. Once, Satya remembered reading, this had been the heart of the city, the place where its allure had been strongest. Here the imperfections were clearest, but for a city that had garnered such venom from Sanjay, the belief that it didn't quite deserve such a reputation seemed to scratch in the back of her head.

That was, until she scratched it.

The road to the elevator was cordoned off by barriers and guarded by Vishkar paramiltary, each of whom kept a disdainful eye on the great concentration of protestors as they marched back and forth with pulse shotguns in hand. As the limo circled and eventually slid to a halt, Satya watched in shock as a young man jumped the barrier and was promptly laid out by a firehose before being dragged off screaming by a quartet of the officers. The signs and vulgarities here were also ramped up in outrage, with offensive lines hanging from a great canvas sheet along one side of one of the tallest skyscrapers.

She turned to Sanjay as the vehicle came to a halt, distress colouring her voice. "How is this any better?" she asked.

Sanjay didn't answer, instead making his way around to her side of the car and extending a hand to help her out. She accepted, only to push him aside as a knife-wielding demonstrator jumped the barriers behind him and charged them down, a murderous advance stopped when Satya conjured a thin blue barrier between him and them, knocking the assailant to the ground until more officers dragged him off. In response, the crowd's angry shouts as well as the trash thrown their way doubled in intensity as the two hurried towards the elevator and shut themselves in.

It wasn't until they were smoothly hurtling towards the heights that Satya let herself breathe again, feeling her heart pound against her sternum and a fearful chill run down her spine. "I'd hardly call that a truce," she said brusquely. "The entire Lower city is on the verge of open war!"

Sanjay tilted his head slightly, showing his blank expression in the reflection off the elevator window. "I disagree. If an uprising begins, you will know. I guarantee it."

"No matter how bad things were in Rio, Vishkar employees were never attacked in the streets! Did you let this happen?"

Sanjay eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't make accusations against your superiors," he purred, adjusting the collars of his shirt sleeves. "though to answer your question, I didn't. I have worked here before, but not in a position where I could change anything."

Satya bowed her head in respect, but her expression remained unchanged. "Of course. My apologies. But, with all due respect, why did you take me through this... this... _wasteland_ of disorder?"

Silence followed for some time, during which time Sanjay split his gaze between watching over his shoulder as Satya silently grappled with confusion and peering downward at the Empire State Building, slowly shrinking into the distance. He clasped his hands behind his back. _It will make a good starting point for the demonstration_ , he decided.

When he did speak up again, he declined his head marginally and kept his voice neutral, not letting her see his tight-lipped smile. "It is because of how you feel right now."

Satya's eyes blinked rapidly as she looked down at her feet. "So, you want me to be angry at them?" she asked. "Is that it?"

"Think of this as preparation for your new job," Sanjay answered, turning ninety degrees to show one side of his face and let the glass reflect the other. "This city is the righteous symbol of Vishkar's accomplishments on this continent, and the starting point from which we will take the next step into the future. Doubts of conviction, conflict over actions, and most importantly compassion for our enemies would strike a crippling blow to the company."

He raised his hand closest to Satya in front of himself, tightening it into a fist as he spoke. "From this point forth, you will need to be cold, merciless, and see things through without question. Seeing the downtrodden for what they are will make it easier. Rio is but a smaller piece in a larger game, Satya. There, you did not have the power to bring stability, as I was unable to here when I was in your shoes. Soon, you and I have each have a chance to make things different than they were, and bring glory untold to Vishkar and their designs."

Satya's face was purposefully unreadable. The last time she had seen him this resolute had been when he had told her the destruction of the favela was necessary, and she didn't need any more reminders of that night than what she already had. Even in spite of his callousness, however, Sanjay had always had a point. The suffering of those who called themselves oppressed was their own fault, and the fact that they always refused to see it made them unsympathetic characters even in their self-spun narratives. If she could lift herself out of the mire, anyone could; those who didn't had only themselves to blame.

At last, she made an expression Sanjay could understand, one that showed she was in agreement. "For the greater good?"

The smile he offered in return was cold, but reassuring.

At the same time, the elevator finally slowed its rapid climb and came to a stop within a spotless white room. Satya used the glass as an impromptu mirror to look over herself and make sure she was still presentable, straightening out a few loose ends in her hair until Sanjay caught her attention with the clearing of his throat.

"Remember," he said. "their anger is chaotic. Don't hesitate to make it orderly."

She bowed again. "Of course."

"Your new home is at Three Seventeen West Avenue, fifty-fourth floor," he added, mirroring her bow as she turned towards the opening doors. "Make yourself comfortable. Your new overseer will meet with you shortly after you arrive."

Satya committed the address to memory as she walked out into the lobby of the reception building, her shoulders back with enthusiastic confidence and her eyes forward towards the future that lay ahead.

It meant that she didn't see Sanjay produce a small device from his breast pocket just before the elevator doors shut. "She has arrived," he whispered into it. "Unsettled from the tour, but still resolute. She'll meet you at her apartment shortly."

"Bravo, _mi compinche_ ," a woman's voice answered back, flippancy and dangerous ambition marking her tone. "I almost didn't think you could do it. I'll take it from here. You just sit back and keep doing what you do best."

A crooked look crossed Sanjay's face as he slipped the device back into his pocket as it cut out. _Yes_ , he thought. _Yes I will._


	5. Divine

There was a reason why heaven was always depicted as floating amongst the clouds.

Religion and the divine, the first thing that came to mind as Satya looked out through the glass doors of the reception building across the perfect blue and white cityscape, were concepts she was very familiar with. In the disgusting little hole of dirt and disorder she'd been born in, every family had kept a shrine in their home, hers included. Every day, men and women across Hyderabad would kneel at the feet of the shrines and show their devotion to the idols, and by extension the beings of supposed enlightenment and omnipotence that they represented, in whatever way they saw fit. Often times, Satya remembered, children would also join in, following their parents and other grown-ups like youngsters in a troupe of monkeys, imitating the actions of their elders.

But the young monkey known as Satya Vaswani had never played along. How could she have when she couldn't make heads or tails of it? _Why believe in things that can't be seen or_ _felt_ , she had wondered. _Why_ _place hope in things that have no guarantee of paying off? Why spend time praising their supposed greatness when you could spend that time doing things to better yourself and others here and now_?

As she grew older and her mind and talents progressed under Vishkar's watchful eye, so too did her notions on faith. Upon looking back at her short youth, the times that people had set aside for worship were immutable, coming and going like clockwork without fail. Faith, she decided, represented something powerful but serene, a constant in an ever-changing world that could be leaned upon. It was a concept that had captivated her nearly as much as dancing and architecture, so much so that she had given herself a personal, lifelong quest to study religion and how her ideas fit into it.

Looking back on it made Satya chuckle; It also helped that India was the birthplace of several of the world's most popular beliefs.

Over the years, her studies were often relegated to side projects, but she still managed to keep them active, seeking out the methods of faith across the earth and their connections to her own beliefs wherever she could. It didn't take long for her to realize though, much to the pursing of her lips upon reminiscence, that while religion promised order, its history and roots were built in chaos.

Abrahamic ideals best exemplified this, rife with conflict over belief and constant infighting because of minor differences. Faiths native to her homeland and the rest of eastern Asia made better on their promises and generally coexisted peacefully, but also tended to define themselves and their teachings in ways she found vague and, at times, unrealistic. The Omnic worshipping of the Iris and its discoverer Aurora was something she'd had a more intimate experience with, but even then she had never been able to fully grasp at the enlightenment that the monk Zenyatta had spoken of. It was this conflict, this... hypocrisy, that Satya had spent many a night and quiet moment wrestling with throughout her adolescence. She knew couldn't trust in something that defied her own beliefs, but to disregard subscription to a higher power was to invite chaos into her life.

But with the exit from childhood's pristine shelter into the light of adulthood, so too came a new revelation.

In all the faiths Satya had observed and studied, creativity, peace, and beauty belonged to the divine, who in turn imbued the mortals with its grace. It was these same mortals who then used their gifts to shape the world around them, crafting order from chaos until the world was precise and structured. Through this, she had formed a unique view on belief: While humanity shaped the world, it was higher powers that gave life order and that allowed for their vision to be reflected.

A vision that Higher New York might as well have been the poster child of.

The birds-eye view from the plane had given her a first glance, but up close she could see in exacting detail just how integrated creativity and precision were. Looking up at the city hall, the building was a stunning combination of gentle, elegant curves and exact angles that held everything in place as it towered into the sky. It was just as she had surmised; precision was human, but creativity was divine.

Across the street, another building with a Wright-inspired outside appearance, though not as tall as the last one, again showed brilliance. As Satya walked down the street towards a nearby rapid transit terminal, every other structure that came into her view took incredible variations on that concept of beauty and precision being so closely combined. As well, in stark contrast to the disgust and violence a mile beneath her feet and nearly five thousand miles south, every street was sparkling, the people walking them were quiet and well-kept, and the air under the biodome smelled fresh and crisp. The only sounds that confronted her were the gentle humming of hover-buses and maglev trams gliding along the street, onto one of which she boarded and was whisked off.

Satya closed her eyes, drawing in a long, slow breath through her nose and exhaled it through her mouth. This was what she needed in her life, not Sanjay's cold motivations or Rio's nightmares, but rather serenity, comfort, organization, and the catharsis that came with their achievement. Forget mere inspiration: Higher New York had been built by gods themselves!

As she stepped off the shuttle onto the block where her apartment was located, the address ran through her mind once again. _Three-Seventeen West, fifty-fourth floor. Three Seventeen West, fifty-fourth floor_. Soon enough, her eyes were first drawn to the numbers on the outside, then to the building itself, the sight of which made her gasp in awe.

It was the most divine building of all.

Before her towered the tallest structure in the entire metropolis, not to mention the most ambitious. Unlike the wavy rectangles that surrounded it, the famous Vishkar Life Complex stood triangular. Not pyramid-shaped, but triangular, thin and wide and without a traditional base, all of which were traits only possible through masterful hard-light construction. Glass walls gave the structure a glisten like polished silver, which on especially sunny days, Satya had read, lent the building a spectacular nickname: Rainbow Tower.

Her jaw was agape and her head tilted back as she walked in through the doorway, her hands nearly trembling with giddy excitement until nearly running into the door-Omnic snapped her out of her tourist-esque fawning. The realization that she was going to be taking up residence in such a place followed in quick succession though, sending her into an even greater - albeit more refined - state of awe.

The lobby, coloured a pristine white with the Vishkar logo rampant on the ceiling, was as quiet, focused, and efficient as everything else she had seen on this Eden in the clouds. Not wanting to stain the perfection, Satya quickly straightened her posture and smoothed out any wrinkles or folds she could find on her suit as she strolled through the reception area, eyes locked forward on the Omnic behind the desk that stood between a pair of elevators.

"Good day, sir," she said upon reaching the desk, her voice prim and proper. "I am Satya Vaswani, the new tenant for the fifty-fourth floor."

The Omnic, sorting through datalogs with one hand, concurrently dedicated the other to typing into a computer screen. "Ah, here you are," he said after a few seconds of searching. "We were under the impression that you had already arrived, but it seems we were mistaken. I hope you can forgive us; No one is perfect, after all."

Satya held back a puzzled expression, though her eyes carried the derision she also felt. _How could you have made such an error_ , she wondered. _Also, your idea of perfection is skewed. It is only possible for those who possess the vision and the will, of which you obviously have neither._

"Of course. It can happen to anyone," she replied.

"Thank you for understanding. The mistake is corrected now." He slid a holo-document over to her side of the desk and pressed a button that raised a small, spherical object out of its hiding spot. "I just need you to sign on the dotted line and look into this retinal scanner."

Satya promptly summoned a pen out of thin air and guided it effortlessly across the line, her flawlessly learned penmanship finally being put to good use. As the pen vanished once she was done with it, she leaned forward and stared directly into the sphere, which affirmed her identity with a quick chirp before retreating into the desk. Behind the Omnic, an elevator door opened, beckoning her to enter and be guided to her future.

"I hope that you enjoy your stay," the receptionist said warmly.

Satya initially didn't reply, instead making straight for the elevator before realizing her rudeness and correcting it with a bow. As the doors closed and the lift made its climb towards the top of the triangular tower, she let excitement get the better of her for a brief moment, knowing no one could see her. Her heart pounded again and her organic hand shook rapidly as she savoured the moment. _This is_ _it_ , she thought, almost giddy yet again. _This is really it. The cream has finally risen to the top, and from there will come order, brought upon the troubled and misguided by the worthy_.

As the elevator slowed down, so did her thoughts. With it came the realization that her hand was flapping, a tic she had learned was a byproduct of the origin of her remarkable talents, but she resented because no matter what she had done to suppress it, it had always come back. To her, it represented a single piece of chaos beyond her control, pin-pricking her whenever she least expected it.

From her other hand, a near-invisible beam was projected around the errant one, holding it in stasis until she was sure she could keep it under control. By the time the elevator had come to a halt and the doors slid open, she had again taken her professional stance, stepping onto the tiled floor of the hallway with form befitting her status.

The doors led to a single, narrow hallway, with nothing on either side except more pristine white walls. Walking down it made an echoed sound with each step, almost tricking the mind into believing the walk was longer than what Satya knew it was, but also providing a pleasing sound as it bounced off the walls. As she neared the door, she produced a key card from another hard-light conjuration, tapping it against the doorknob and unlocking her new quarters.

She beamed with pride: She was here. By the gods, she was _here_.

The residence was larger than she was used to. Rio had accommodated her with a full suite, which she had come to think of as a little compact, but practical-minded. The penthouse she now stood in was over three times the size of that last one, and she regarded it with slight apprehension, but also the same awe as before. Again, the walls were plain, perfect white like a sheet of canvas, and glass walls stretching to the ceiling brought in light in long, beautiful beams like those coming through the windows of a church. Strolling through the landing and into the common room, she regarded the open space, empty of furniture and decorations, closely.

 _Tabula Rasa,_ she thought. _A clean slate. This will work marvelously._

She leaned against the wall at the edge of the landing and pulled off her shoes, allowing her bare feet the full feeling of the floor. She closed her eyes, visualizing the center of the space she had just seen. Slowly and methodically, she stepped towards the point she had in her head. Her arms stretched out to her sides, feeling the divider that separated the common room from the kitchen. She listened to the muffled tap that her feet made with each movement, mentally marking out the space she covered, while her prosthetic arm began to glow with iridescent blue light as a ball of energy formed in her palm.

Even though she couldn't see it, Satya knew exactly when she had reached her destination, and when she had she froze as though moving even a fraction of an inch more would ruin absolutely everything. Planting herself in place, she took a perfectly straight posture and visualized her environment behind her eyelids, painting a vivid picture across her mind. The canvas-white walls, the common room, the kitchen, the dining room, the study, the upstairs, the bedroom, it all came together in a flawless vision.

And now, she could execute it.

She clasped her hands together, feeling the glowing ball of light from her palm spread out and tie itself between her fingers before slowly pulling them apart. The orb was stretched and weaved like string in cat's cradle until it had formed an exact scale replica of the entire penthouse that fit over the real thing. Looking around at the sketches on her then slid her fingers across the model until she reached the spot where she stood, holding her finger over it as though she were waiting for the most opportune moment.

She smiled as she closed her eyes, reciting her mantra inside her mind at first, but saying it louder each time until it turned from a mouthing into a whisper, then from a whisper into a command.

_Order through peace._

"Peace through calm."

" _Calm through order_."

Then, as she opened her eyes again, the opportune moment came.

The chain reaction that began was amazing to behold; Every inch of the apartment was bathed in blue light, and exact copies of the furniture, decorations, even the colour of the ceiling that Satya had grown accustomed to, filled in the open space like broad, multi-toned brush strokes. In the middle of it all, she guided each piece of light as it took form and mass, her movements a combination of conductor-like rigidity and the graceful dances she had learned since childhood.

As the swirling change died down and the glow faded away, Satya was left to observe her work like a painter stepping back from their masterpiece. Aside from the obvious larger space that made the home seem cavernous, even with its trappings, there was not a single aesthetic that looked any different from her last home.

A proud expression crept across Satya's face, as did a choking within her throat that forced her to hold back tears. _Perfect_ , she opined. _Just as all things should be._

Her enjoyment of her work was interrupted, though, by an exhausted feeling that she knew had to be jet lag, and an annoying itch along her scalp. She yawned into one hand and ran the other through her hair, cringing at the greasy attribute gained due to the morning's hasty departure.

 _Sanjay didn't say precisely when the handler would contact me_ , she reasoned. She reached into her back pocket and glanced at the time on her phone: She had arrived nearly twenty minutes ago, but Vishkar protocol stated both personnel in a rendezvous should arrive at the location no more than ten minutes between each other. _Perhaps, better late than never? But until then, what to do?_

A cleverness added itself to her smile. She already knew exactly how to spend this time.

Within a few minutes she had located where the tea kettle and the green Darjeeling were located in the kitchen, and had a pot boiling while she made her way upstairs to take a quick bird-bath. By the time the telltale whistle screamed its readiness, Satya was savouring the fresh, clean feeling as she changed into more casual attire and did her hair up in a towel to dry. Upon hearing the kettle, she rushed to finish her preparations only to hear the screech stop abruptly. This silence rendered her monolithic-ally still as she listened for any movement downstairs, like a mouse listening for the scratch of a cat's claws outside their hole.

It was a tense minute that felt many times longer before cooler thoughts prevailed in her racing mind. _Now I remember. I set the timer on the stove to shut off the heat once it reached the right temperature._ Her muscles relaxed and her goosebumps stood down as she resumed her normal pace.

When she reached the kitchen, everything was where it should have been, reassuring her notions with a sigh of relief. Still, a she noticed her hand shaking again, she couldn't help but feel she was being watched, as though there was something slightly, unplaceably, _disturbingly_ , off.

Whatever it was though, she figured, could wait. After all, there was a routine to catch up on.

A routine that only got as far as pouring the cup and making for the den before she was stopped in her tracks and her blood turned to ice: On her sofa, a woman wearing a purple jacket and lavender highlights in her hair smiled charmingly as she crossed her legs on the sofa. Looking up from filing her nails, the woman's eyes locked onto Satya's as she leaned in predatorially and purred out a few simple, terrifying words.

"I love what you've done with the place, _amiga._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an extra chapter for today, just to make up for the days I've missed. As always, if you like the story, please let me know with your kudos and comments.
> 
> Hope you've all had a happy holidays as well :)


	6. Introduction

Satya screamed loud enough to nearly shatter the windows and jumped back over a foot, sending her tea flying across the room, the towel on her head falling behind her, and the cup crashing to the ground in a thousand pieces before she nearly collapsed, only able to stay on her shaking legs by grabbing the edge of the wall between the kitchen and the common room. Even then, the light-headedness of hyperventilation and the fact that she'd come just short of dropping from a heart attack threatened to see her black out on the floor before she could even say anything, let alone get help.

The intruder, though, simply raised her hands in front of herself. " _Relájate_ ," she said calmly. "There's nothing to be worried about. Just let me give a little explanation and it-"

The trespasser's words were cut off as Satya conjured her photon projector faster than the eye could blink and turned it on the interloper. Multiple thin beams of blue light shot out from the center and the focusing arms, forming a thin, impenetrable barrier around its target and suspending her immobile in the air.  
"Who are you?" Satya demanded, barely able to coax out coherent words through a feeling of sheer panic. "How did you get here? Why did you break into my home?!"

The home invader, though trapped in a cocoon by a very ticked-off person with a potentially lethal weapon, kept a calm expression and a calmer, even flippant, voice. "Hey, hey, easy there, alright? I'll answer you, but you've got to actually let me get words out of my mouth first. _¿Entiendes?_ " She rolled her eyes when a few moments of confused tension indicated that Satya didn't understand Spanish. "Understand?"

The silence that followed drew out as Satya did as best she could to keep a blank face, staring directly ahead with a scowl that her prisoner could see right through. She could have killed the intruder right then and there with but a thought, but one of the few others that were still able to hold sway over her sudden-onset terror demanded closure, a call that experience had proven needed to be answered.

When Satya finally did speak again after loosely brushing her hair out of her eyes, her voice cut like a knife. "If I think you're going to try anything for even an instant, you will die."

The woman smirked. "Pretty strong words. You sure you can back it up?"

"Orders from my boss. Show no mercy to degenerates."

Her smirk grew to a laugh. "Sanjay can be a bit of a cutthroat, can't he?"

Satya's eyes widened somehow further. How did this person, whomever she was, know anything about Sanjay? If they knew about him, what else did they know? Again, the need for closure itched away inside her skull, yet even with that she couldn't afford to risk anything.

But still...

"Alright then," she hissed, finally pushing herself back onto her own two steady feet and moving her hair off her face and behind her shoulders. "Talk."

The interloper rolled her eyes. "Ah sure, what the hell?" she remarked glibly. "It's not like I'm going anywhere." Her eyes peered down at her entangled situation, then back up at Satya. "Speaking of which, you want to help a girl out, _si_?"

When Satya's lack of an answer was taken as a no, the captive pursed her lips briefly before continuing. "In that case, my name is Sombra. To put it simply, I'm your new handler. No sinister motives here, just a friend looking to get to know who they're working with."

Satya recoiled her head back, her eyes narrowing with concerned suspicion. Slowly and with baited breath, she slowly began to put Sombra down. "You don't look like Vishkar," she stated plainly. "Your attire is far from expected protocol. The official uniform dress code is blue and white, not cyan and lavender. Not only that, but your hairstyle does not conform to regulations."

Sombra chuckled with amusement as her feet touched down on the floor and the beams dissipated. "You know, I think I like you already. But, in answer to your question, I'm not Vishkar."She stretched her arms upward and ran her fingers through her hair and along her implants before striding slowly over to Satya. "I represent an outside organization with a large controlling interest, and-"

She paused, noticing with a funny sense of curiosity that Satya wasn't listening anymore. Rather, the newly-arrived architech had invested her attention on cleaning up the puddles of tea and shattered cup fragments that lay strewn across the floor with the towel that used to be on her hair. She leaned over, folding her arms behind her back, and watched for a few seconds as Satya's constructs wiped away the mess with an efficiency that bordered on obsessive.

Another smirk crept up one side of Sombra's lips. Now she _knew_ that she liked her.

Extending out her right hand, long purple tendrils snaked into Satya's view and projected an image of a pixelated sugar skull, catching Satya off guard enough that she stood back up straight.

"So like I was saying," Sombra restated, "I represent outside parties that have a controlling interest in Vishkar. They wanted someone who could do their work, and your name was at the top of the list."

Satya's posture was the product of a strange feeling of pride mixing with her confusion and fear. "That doesn't make sense. Vishkar isn't publicly traded, so outside parties have no say in affairs."

Sombra snickered snidely as she placed her hand on her new friend's shoulder, but immediately reeled it back in when it was flicked by a hard-light construct and she was given a perturbed look. "You know, I almost had my doubts about you when you tried to kill me and sound all scary, but this," she reached for Satya's shoulder again, but repealed her hand at the last second as she noticed that Satya still had her photon projector. "this makes up for it and then some. You and I, I think, are going to be pretty good friends."

Satya responded with a smile that hid a growing feeling of discordance.

Recognizing it almost immediately, Sombra exhaled, smiled, and gave a permissive gesture. Merely seconds later, the remains of the tea and its broken cup on the floor had been swept away and disposed of.

Now the real work could begin.

"Mind if I ask you a question, _amiga_?"

Satya swiveled around at the sound of Spanish, to which her handler responded "As a friend?"

"With all due respect, we are not friends."

Sombra smirked again. "How about as colleagues? That sit better with you?"

Satya gave a quiet exhale through her nose, at the cue of which Sombra guided her companion towards the sofa and sat her down.  
"Why does it happen?" she asked again suddenly, though her voice came in such a tone that evoked no threat. "I mean, back there, why did you want to clean up a little thing like that so badly?"

Satya's eyebrows bunched together with a complete lack of understanding. "Wouldn't you? Tea stains, and the china could cut your foot if you step on a shard."

"Sure, but most people wouldn't have just dropped everything for one little mess." Sombra pointed at her friend and grinned with an air of admiration. "You, on the other hand, went at it like a woman possessed."

"It's disorderly. When order is not swift and unyielding, chaos will flourish."

Sombra clasped her hands in front of herself. "Let me guess: No exceptions?" she inquired, already assuming the answer.

"Of course not. Every part of life can be organized and put to routine. Why wouldn't you want the comfort and security that comes with it?"

For an instant that passed faster than Satya could notice, Sombra's eyes flicked off to one side. "Seems to me like this is something that goes deep," she prodded, pointing a finger at Satya's head as though she were tapping it. "There a secret behind it?"

Satya sat back in her spot, looking off into the middle distance. "That's... a rather personal question," she said hesitantly.

"It's just harmless curiosity, I swear. _Cruce mi_ _corazón_ ," she said, making the associated gesture. "cross my heart."

When Satya's posture didn't open up, Sombra shuffled up next to her. "Hey, I'll make you a deal," she whispered. "If you tell me the truth, I promise you, on my life, that I'll always do the same for you." She slipped a hand over the back of the sofa. "Sanjay never really did that, did he?"

Satya's eyes flicked over to the woman sitting on her sofa, who'd broken into her apartment, then spoken of the two of them as friends, and was now asking her to divulge the most personal aspect of her life, the icing on the cake of the strangest day she'd ever experienced. The amount of protocols that had been broken would have infuriated Sanjay, and she herself had half a mind to finally call security on the intruder.

Still, the other half reasoned, if this 'Sombra' was telling the truth, she was Satya's superior, and an indulgence of such a question from a person of such status wouldn't have been too unorthodox. As well, she did have a point; Sanjay had often left out details or played her for larger gains before. Perhaps, Satya thought, this woman deserved a chance to prove herself different.

Most importantly though, she'd promised to tell the truth. Satya had already been doing so herself, so why wouldn't they offer that courtesy back in return?

The architech breathed in deeply through her nose and hung her head low. When she spoke, she did so softly and tentatively, treading over each word like they were logs on water. "When I was a young girl, life was... eventful. Every day brought something new, something unexpected into what was already a churning cesspool of bedlam."

Sombra raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer, her interest grabbed from the start. "You're not just talking about the day to day."

Satya's head hung even lower as she raised the arm behind her head and played with her hair. "I was poor, even by the standards of Hyderabad. Baba was a ghost and sickness took its toll on Mama, so my brothers and sisters and I were on our own. For them, it was hard, but they took to it, sometimes in ways that are... best left unsaid. While they roved, I searched for somewhere, anywhere, so I could be away from the crowds and the smells and the noises, somewhere where things could all make sense."

The wheels in Sombra's mind clicked. "Sensory overload."

"Yes. Then one day..." Her lower lip quivered as the words scraped off her tongue like sandpaper. "came the worst day of my life."

Sombra scooched in closer, daring to see if her friend would notice a hand on top of hers on her lap. To her surprise, she didn't.

"Every year," Satya continued. "all of India celebrates the coming of spring, the forgiving of transgressions, and the triumph of good over evil with a festival. Holi, they call it. I was unfortunate enough to experience the first one held since the Omnic Crisis had ended."

Sombra's eyes widened and she leaned in even closer, to where she could see the glistening streaks on her friend's face where tears ran. Looking closer showed a deep-seeded terror in her eyes, a trauma that burned just as brightly now as it did all that time ago.

"I had heard of the festivities before, but I could never have guessed what they were like. The streets flooded with people, every which way I looked. No matter how fast I ran or how small the hole I crawled into to escape, there were people crowded into it. I was surrounded, carried by a torrent I couldn't escape from."

She paused to wipe her face clean of tears and strands of hair. Her voice was now wavering, a sad vibrato as she fought back the pain of memory. "Music played in the streets, following me wherever I went. It was so... so _loud_. My head pounded with every beat as I fell against a wall, and it felt as though my ears were about to explode. Finally came the colours. Bright hues, powdered and liquid, thrown by the people at each other, splattered everywhere; by gods, _EVERYWHERE_. It coated my skin, made my hair heavy and thick, and stung my eyes like a swarm of bees."

Her arms folded together, rubbing across goosebumps as she curled into the fetal position and rocked slowly back and forth, while her voice continued to devolve. "The noise, the colour, the people; It all blurred together until it was too much. I don't know how long I spent curled up in the corner of that wretched little shack. Hours, days maybe, all the while the sound and feeling and smell and touch and taste was everywhere, and it just. Didn't. STOP. I prayed to drift off to sleep, to never have to feel or see anything so horrible, so chaotic again, but it never came. The suffering, the disorder, it j-" The words choked in her mouth. "It just... wouldn't end."

She placed her hands on her face as the memory overcame her, leaving her awash in a flood of tears. "Why would anyone live like that?!" she cried. "How can anyone want anything so awful?!"

All the while Sombra still sat next to her, motionless, silent, and her expression of wide-eyed amazement unchanged. _Wow_ , she thought, her jaw falling agape. _Just... Dios mio_.  
Letting her other arm fall over Satya's shoulder, she offered as much of a hug as she figured would be allowed. "Shh, it's OK," she consoled. "It's okay. You're safe here. You'll be alright."

It wasn't much longer until Satya, closing her eyes tight and sniffing in, lifted Sombra's arm off and slid away to her side of the sofa. "Thank you," she whispered.

Sombra smiled. "I knew you were unique when I was assigned to you," she said. "but I would never have guessed just how far that went. You'll do a great job."

"Thank you," Satya repeated as she sniffed in again and cleaned off the last of her tears.

It was now Sombra's turn to bow her head, crossing one foot behind the other as she did. "When I was young, I grew up like you did. No home, no family, nothing. I did what I had to do, and it took me to where I am today. If it means anything to you-"

"Yes," Satya interrupted. "It does. It... it actually helps."

" _Maravillosa_." Sombra said, her voice springing up. "I'm glad we had this little chat. Feels good, doesn't it, knowing you've got a friend you can talk to?"

Satya's head rotated slowly, her expression not entirely decided on the usage of 'friend' just yet.

"Ah fine," Sombra laughed, "we'll put a pin on that for now." She raised herself off the sofa and gestured towards the divider. "I'd better be going; Things to do, higher-ups to please, you know." She raised a hand and summoned a hologram containing several numbers. "If you ever need to reach me or you want to talk again, here's my card."

The hologram floated over to Satya, who let it float above her prosthetic hand as she regarded it. Just as the numbers were committed to memory, the image transformed into a lavender sugar skull before disappearing.

"I'll send you your first mission in a couple days' time," Sombra continued, making her way towards the exit. "Until then, get comfy, enjoy your new digs. Once we start up, you'll be plenty busy." A purple light rose and glowed around her for a few seconds before disappearing just as she turned on her heel back towards the sofa. "Oh, and Satya?"

The architech flinched Sombra's way, an expectant look on her face that made the hacker smile.

"Welcome to New York."

With that, she was enveloped by a purple light and left just as suddenly as she'd arrived.

Satya slumped back, stretching out across the sofa as exhaustion swept over and her thoughts began to permeate and provoke once again. What to think of this highly unorthodox new associate, this 'Sombra' was a conundrum on two feet, a riddle that brought back old headaches and made her toss and turn. On one hand, every action and word that this home invader, this person who had managed to coax the most personal part of Satya's life out into the open, brought cause for suspicion, least of which because Sombra broke enough rules and showed such flippancy towards procedures that Satya swore it would give her grey hairs before her time. On the other hand, contrary to Sanjay, she could at least show the ability to relate and to understand when a gentle, honest approach was best.

She hadn't said it outright, but it seemed that Sombra was offering herself as someone to trust...

The headache melted away as Satya gradually arose and got off the sofa. Finding a blank spot on the wall just above the divider, she locked her fingers together and drew them apart, hard-light energy constructing a perfect recreation of Sombra's insignia, the first reassuring addition to the new reality she could bring order to.

A new reality the depths of which she could have never guessed.


	7. Thunderstruck

If the day she had moved to Higher New York had been hectic, then the ones to come were insane.

True to her word, Sombra had seen fit to grace Satya with a few days' time to accommodate herself to her new surroundings. Per her meticulous ways, it was time well spent; By the time the sun's last golden beams dropped below the dome on the first day alone, she'd organized all the cutlery and dishware into the same cupboards they'd been in in her Rio kitchen, memorized the route for and physically travelled to the locations of every grocery store, restaurant, bank, and well-reviewed café within a thirty minute transit ride, met and conversed with all the Vishkar officers on the business levels of the Life Complex, and cleared a space in both the upstairs office and the common room for meditation and dancing which she promptly put to good use.

She'd kept herself so busy, that the big day itself didn't dawn on her until she was finishing her tea.

Her phone's chirp echoing through the room led to her scrambling to find it, first on the kitchen counter next to the toaster, then to the bathroom before her steps fully retraced back to her nightstand beside the alarm clock. Sure enough, a message was waiting on her phone, notified by a jiggling envelope emblazoned with the sugar skull icon. Any other day, Satya would have smirked and remarked to herself on how her new acquaintance really seemed to like that insignia, even shrugging in playful self-deprecation as she remembered her own rendition of the image.

This time, however, excitement was the feeling in the spotlight.

It had been a little over ten years since she had last underwent this particular sensation, the equal parts anticipation and jitters that let her know that something big was about to begin. Even so, the details of it were something that at times felt like they'd just happened yesterday; That time, she'd infiltrated a rival company's corner office, fooled the computer's security measures, and transferred their entire financial holdings to Vishkar-held accounts. Even as an eighteen year old unsure of her place in the world and needing clarification on every little detail, if there was one thing that held true for every day forward it was that it had been her first step into things far larger and far greater.

As to what this new beginning held in store, the opening of the message soon brought Satya an answer.

* * *

**Good morning Ms. Vaswani (Nah, just kidding XD)**

**_Hola mi amiga_ ** **,**

**Happy to see you enjoyed your time off, so now let's get down to the good stuff. I'll start you off easy; There's a maximum-security prison just south of Paris, France holding two people that another client of mine hired for a job. Obviously they can't just sit in there forever, so that's where you come in. You're going to slip in and get them out before anyone notices.**

**I've sent you a profile of the compound and a list of things to pick up before you send them on their way. Think of it like really dangerous grocery shopping ;)**

**I'll meet you and them on the point marked in the file. From there, I'll handle the rest. Go bring the house down.**

**Your friend,**

**Sombra.**

**P.S. This may not be what you're expecting. After it's done, I'll explain everything. I promise.**

* * *

She scoffed as she readjusted the teabag in her cup. _A_ _jailbreak_ , she thought. _This will be easy._

Sitting down on the bed and opening the attached file, the first parts of what she read seemed to confirm her first impression. The diorama of the prison showed it as an immense complex, laid out in a polygonal shape with the main cell blocks at each edge, armed like a fortress, monitored at nearly every angle, and manned by highly-trained personnel that adhered to a strict schedule. A further analysis showed that the pair was located in the eastern wing, less than fifty feet away from the outermost wall and a hundred out from a quiet roadway that ran past it. A person infiltrating the block at just the right time, ideally when the guard's routine took them out of sight for a few minutes, could feasibly slip in, kill the security camera, and get back out out quickly, invisibly, and in an orderly manner.

Her eyebrows flicked up for a moment. _Not_ _bad. A simple task, but not bad_.

Scrolling further down showed the items that she had to pick up, most likely located in the contraband room at the centre of the facility. The list, as she skimmed over it, perplexed with each additional item: A rickety motorcycle and sidecar, steel bear traps, large piles of scrap metal, gas canisters, enough assorted explosives to reduce an entire city block to ash, makeshift grenade launchers and shotguns, and a giant steel hook on a chain. Trying to decipher just what kind of person or persons would need such an arsenal was something that drew possible answers as obvious as they were insidious, to which she put them out of sight and mind as she pocketed her phone and made for the common room - with a brief detour to place her teacup in the kitchen sink - where she planted herself in the middle of the open space.

It was time for her dances to begin.

She stretched her arms outward and closed her eyes, looking deep within for the clarity she desired. She brought her hands together in a praying position, open palms and straight fingers coming together, before drawing them apart and outstretching her arms to either side. At the same time, she brought her right foot back and closed her eyes, focusing on nothing but her breathing, her heartbeat, and the nine simple words that guided her.

" _Order through peace, peace through calm, calm through order._ "

She opened her eyes again, and the results were spectacular.

A long line of glowing blue light coalesced as she twirled elegantly around the room, starting from a faint, shapeless glow like a swarm of fireflies before taking form into a shimmering blue line. The shining particles spiraled upwards and out with each elegant motion, taking several forms. The first, the spiral surrounding the dancer in the middle of the wonder, formed into Satya's field attire, forming over and replacing the night wear she had had on previously. In front of her, the rest of the trail of light took form into a Vishkar teleporter, a flower head-shaped device that projected a gateway capable of transcending all distances.

She sighed deeply upon completion, stabilizing her heart and savouring pride in the same action. Though she knew where she was going to be on the other side of the portal, an adventurous smile reflected a newly arrived come-what-may mindset as she approached it.

Whatever the future held, it was undoubtedly nothing that she couldn't control.

With a single step, she was through the portal and within the tight confines of the cell that the pair were supposed to be in, where she was immediately confronted by an odor of fire and gunpowder so pungent that it nearly caused her to gag. As she coughed herself back into composure, a quick look through the nigh-unbreakable glass and metal combination that comprised three of the four confining walls confirmed that the guards were right on schedule, while a wave of her hand obscured any cameras that happened to be pointing her way.

And yet, the two most important parts of the plan were missing.

Though the cell was barely ten feet long by ten wide and offered no hiding spots, the inmates were nowhere to be found. Satya's mind raced through the memory of the file as sweat suddenly trickled down her back; Had she missed something? If so, how was that even possible?

Her attention was attracted upwards not a second later by a low-pitched, guttural roar. Her head jerked in the direction of the ceiling and her upper body twisted around to see a massive man, wearing a pig-faced gas mask and a with a tattoo of a hog and a motorcycle engine emblazoned on his stomach, leaping off the cell's top bunk as if to belly-flop directly on top of her, leaving only just enough time to sidestep the beast before it impacted the floor with a hard thud.  
She backed towards one of the walls to put as much distance between him and herself as possible, but before she could materialize her photon projector, her blood turned to ice as the pointy end of what she assumed was a makeshift knife pressed up against her lower back. Peering over her shoulder with eyes widened by shock, she saw the fat man's accomplice was a skinny man with a pointy, rat-like face and singed hair under a wild, toothy grin.

"Ooh ooh, I got one Roady, and wouldya believe it?!" he screeched before launching into a maniacal laugh. "We got chicks walkin' through holes in the wall!"

Satya restrained a groan as he wrenched on her hair with his other hand, keeping her from struggling free. The kind of people that these two were was _definitely_ not something she had expected.

And where he smiled, her expression turned to a scowl.

"Whatcha think, ya big lug?" the rat asked to his compatriot, busy picking himself off the floor. "You wanna kill her now or keep her 'round for some fun 'til we bust outta here, if you know what I mean?"

In an instant a hard-light collar wrapped around the rat's neck and hoisted him into the air in front of Satya. The hog charged her down while his compatriot flailed and howled in protest, but a concussive ball of energy from her photon projector sent him reeling backwards into the wall.

"Try anything like that again," she hissed. "and you won't be going anywhere."

The collar around the maniac's neck disappeared, dropping him to the floor as he coughed and spluttered for breath. "Oooh, feisty little sheila, eh?" he croaked, his face still twisted with a grin. "This is gonna be real-whoawhoawhoawhoa!" He jumped up to his feet . "Whaddaya mean 'won't be goin' anywhere? Ol' Pig-Face and I have got a _foolproof_ plan to bust outta this box and blow this dump sky high!"

The hog lifted his partner in crime by the scruff of his neck, staring blankly at him before dropping him back down on his feet.

"Okay okay fine, maybe we don't have 'all' of a foolproof plan _per se_ , but it's gonna be GENIUS once I put it together! After all, they don't call me 'Mister Inconspicuous' for nothing!" The skinny madman laughed insanely before swiveling on his peg-leg towards his partner in crime and pointing a metal finger in his face. "DON'T SAY IT!"

The immense creature tilted his head to one side.

"Don't play stupid with me, ya oversized sheep-shagging wombat! You don't think I still got that touch for genius plans after that business in the palace; _Well guess what, ya drongo?!_ "

Satya ballooned up her cheeks and let the air seethe out as she waited with fraying patience, trying with all her might not to let the sheer annoyance of the two lunatics get the better of her. In all her time and out of everything she'd seen at Vishkar, not even the street ruffian who'd plagued Rio for years had been as chaotic as these two. Leaving them to rot here, she reasoned, was a well-deserved fate for whatever they'd done.

But, she reminded herself, it wasn't her place to question. A good Vishkar employee did as they were told and left it at that. The only question that mattered was to why would it be any different now?

Centering herself with a deep breath and a quick repetition of her mantra, she conjured an invisible barrier between the arguing psychopaths and used it to physically push them apart, the little one still gesticulating wildly until she cleared her throat.

"Sombra sent me to break you out," she stated bluntly. "We must hurry before someone comes past here."

Another cartoonish expression washed over the rat's face. "Sombra? Oi Roadhog, you remember that name? It's on the tip a' my tongue... who the hell was that aga" His jaw went agape mid-sentence and his eyes glimmered with a manic energy, as though the last two wires in his head sparked together. "Oh rooooooight, the taco-muncher who promised us that huge wad o' cash!"

The one called Roadhog stared directly at Satya as she lowered the barrier. " _Where's the money?_ " he grunted.

Satya lowered her projector while keeping her artificial arm at her side, palm facing outward as so to be able to react quickly. "I don't have it with me," she said plainly.

The rat snickered at this revelation and shot a wild-eyed look at her. "Well that's just a fine 'How d'ya do!'" He crossed his arms and pouted, sticking out his tongue at Satya. "We ain't goin' nowhere until we get our payday!"

Satya sighed before straightening her posture and colouring her tone with stoic assertion. "Sombra said she'd meet you at a rendezvous point and settle what's left to settle. I'm to take you there if you so choose, but since the guards are due to patrol this block any minute now we'll have to leave immediately. If not, then you can stay and languish here, though I don't believe you'll be getting your money if that's what you choose."

The rat's head instantly popped up unsettlingly close to Satya's, his freshly-returned grin further serving to startle and repulse her back towards the wall. "Well, that's good enough for me!" he shouted. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', ya big lug?"

Roadhog only shot him another stare as he lumbered over.

"No, I'm _not_ thinking about Vegemite waffles! Though I could really go for one right now, with just a pinch of sugar and a little-" His concentration was brought back to the matter at hand by a slap to the face from his pig-like accomplice. "Right, time for _OPERATION: THE HALF OF MY GENIUS ESCAPE PLAN I WAS ABLE TO THINK OF!_ Also known as _**LET'S BLOW THE ROOF OFF THIS POPSICLE STAND!!!**_ "

Tearing back over to the bunk beds, the duo reached under their mattresses and produced lookalikes made with bedsheets, pillows, toilet paper, and an extremely large amount of dynamite and plastic explosives, a spectacle that led Satya to drop her head into her open palm. The question of where they had managed to acquire and hide the bombs crossed her mind, but only just long enough for her to conclude that the less she knew, the better.

"OK, that about sets up my brilliant plan!" the rat proclaimed as he wound a spring on the decoy's arms, only to be smacked in the face and sent to the ground by a wooden backhand displaying the middle finger. "Now we just need to grab our goodies and then it's goodbye prison and g'day payday!"

"I'll take care of that, now let's go."

The fat one looked up from where his own dummy was placed and stared at Satya. Peering into the black eye frames of his mask was like looking down an empty pit. Whatever she assumed he was thinking, she didn't get to find out as he turned back towards his bunk and grabbed a small plush toy that Satya thought looked like some kind of turnip with an stylized face on it.

His accomplice, however, wasn't so focused. "Oi, I've had just about enough a' you!" the skinny one said, popping up much too close for comfort again. "How do we know you didn't just come in here to screw around with us? Sure, you could be tryin' to kill us too, but that just wouldn't be as fun!" He leaned in even closer, staring at her and pressing his head against hers. "Y'see, we're kinda popular guys; Roady back there tells the funniest bloody jokes. Hell, it's hard to get him ta shut up half the time!"

Her patience finally run dry, Satya raised her projector and held it directly in front of the rat's pointy nose. "First," she snapped. "there is no logical reason why anyone would want anything to do with you. Second," She extended her arm outward, forcing the rat to step back. "if I had wanted you dead, you already would be."

The rat hunched over and laughed meekly. "Ok, ok, t-take it easy. I kid, I was kidding, I'm a kidder. Y-you got your reasons and they're great, and I'm hoping 'cause of them you're not gonna use that thing on my face? Please?"

Rolling her eyes and sneering, she lowered her weapon and waved her free hand, spinning the flower petals of the teleporter so that the rift distorted briefly. "Now, let's. Get. Going," she urged.

The pig-faced one complied with just a snort, much to her gratitude, but her head sank back in dismay as she saw the insufferable one back at the bunks. With the press of a button on his decoy's chest, a thunderously loud song began playing at a dangerously high volume through an unseen speaker. Satya nearly doubled over as the sound nearly ruptured her ears before she covered them and looked up with an expression that demanded to know just what the hell was going on.

"Just a little goodbye present!" the rat shouted through murderous giggles. "If you're gonna go out, you might as well go out with a _BOOM!_ "

He cackled again before Satya immobilized him with her projector and used it to throw him through the portal. Just before she herself followed them out, she could hear guards shouting and running for their location.

As she stepped onto the grassy field on the other side of the road and closed the portal, she sighed with relief, letting the tension in her muscles drop while her eyes went heavy with a sudden onset of exhaustion. _That was far too close_ , she thought.

Still, as she dusted herself off, there was a comforting sense to be found in knowing that it was all over.

Until she saw the now-liberated rat and hog looking her way in eager anticipation and all the stress came back again.

Mentally she threw her hands in the air and screamed in frustration, but outwardly she kept her face blank and her voice neutral. "Is there a reason why you look so...?"

"Scary? Excited? Sexy as all hell?" the rat giggled. "Oh, I am SO glad you asked!"

Reaching behind him, he produced a detonator and when he primed the switch on the top, the music from earlier was now playing through the prison's external speakers. With the flip of the switch, the entire wing where they had just been was reduced to little more than smoke and rubble in a massive explosion that nearly blew the trio over, much to the screeching delight of the rat.

With her eyes as wide as dinner plates and her mouth hung open, words and actions beyond just staring at the horrific spectacle utterly failed Satya. The only thing that gave any sort of description to the disbelief and terrible shock she felt came from the lyrics of the music, finding a grim poetry in how well it fit everything.

**You've been**

**Thunderstruck!**


	8. Comfort Zone

_This is all my fault_.

Even though the initial blow of shock and horror had softened and the ringing in her ears was finally dying down, Satya still couldn't peel her eyes away from the smouldering carnage that was the prison. Under the fragments that had once been solid concrete walls there had to have been dozens dead inside at best, alongside hundreds more injured.

And there was no one to blame but herself.

Behind her, the men whose exfiltration from the complex had led to such wanton destruction still danced and hollered and laughed at their freedom and the chaos it brought, and between it and the distant sounding of fire sirens Satya nearly collapsed again, her head growing light and her stomach twisting with guilt. _I did this_ , she lamented, placing her hand on her forehead as she nearly couldn't stand. _I allowed this to happen_.

For a moment her mind flashed back to the bombing of the Kalado building and the favela again, but an even more terrible present marked by the smell of smoke and gunpowder reeled her back, finally bringing her down onto a knee before she could completely black out from the revulsion and drown in another wash of sorrow.

A feeling that the high-pitched shrieks of the rat sparked into a smouldering rage.

Satya picked herself back up slowly, her artificial hand glowed blue as she closed it into a fist and her chest heaving with each heavy breath. Simultaneously she brushed back her hair behind her shoulders again, her fingers digging into her scalp as her blood boiled. A part of her demanded that calm rationality be allowed to have its say in the actions she was contemplating, but whatever could be said was drowned out in the dull thud of crumbling walls and the piercing cackles of a madman.

Besides, she was already calm. It was simply encased in her fury.

Before Satya could turn around and make the screaming in her head external, Just off to her left appeared a flash of purple light that dissipated swiftly, but not before breaking her out of her focus so abruptly that she flinched back almost a foot. In an instant her photon projector was raised, only to see Sombra walking past her towards the maniacs, a briefcase in hand and a smirk on her face.

"Real _f_ _iesta_ you've got going, huh Junkrat?" she said, swaying her hips to one side.

Junkrat froze in place before perking up with a wide, open-mouthed grin. "Well look who finally showed up!" he called over another laugh. "Oi pig-face! The money's here for real this time!"

Sombra chuckled. "And here I thought the half up front would have kept you happy a while longer." She raised the briefcase and opened it, revealing that it was filled to the brim with gold bars. "But then again, I wouldn't have you crazy _hijos de puta_ any other way."

Junkrat and Roadhog both both crowded around the case, ogling at its contents and giggling at their fortune. When the former reached in to snatch his share of the prize, Sombra swatted his hand away.

"Ah ah ah," she said in a sing-song voice as her lips grew into a thin smile. "Quid pro quo, _mi amigo_."

Though she stood only ten feet behind them, what the three of them were discussing proved to be impossible for Satya, not without getting noticed and interrupting the conversation. Discreetly squinting to try and peer closer though showed her a hologram that Sombra was referring to and the animated responses of the explosives-crazed madmen, but without words to put context to them they had no meaning, leaving her mind to speculate the rest in befuddling, scary detail. _Why would she deal with_ _them_ , she thought. _What kind of client would want anything to do with such chaos?_

_Why wouldn't Sombra tell me what I was dealing with?_

Her eyes drifted downward, where she found that she'd been absent-mindedly flapping her hand again, in response to which she held it still and shook her head. To even think of eavesdropping or interrupting was a cardinal sin of Vishkar punishable by death, not to mention it was something Satya found extremely rude herself

At last, the talk ended with the Junkers snatching the briefcase out of Sombra's grasp as she turned towards Satya. "Oh and, _amiga_?" she called. "They're going to need a couple more things before they go."

Hiding her thoughts under stoic professionalism, Satya opened another rift and, pinching her fingers together as though she were holding the top and bottom of the portal, dragged it from its point of origin off to one side. As a result, the massive stockpile of bombs, bear-traps, gas canisters, mines, shotguns, scrap metal, grenade launchers, a gigantic hook on a chain, and a rickety motorcycle dropped onto the grass with a great clatter.

Laughing maniacally and shaking with excitement, Junkrat leaped into his sidecar, grabbing his effects as his partner compiled his own and mounted the bike. "This is gonna be one bloody awesome ride, eh big boy?" he shouted. "What's say first thing we do is head back to London? I want me back that Holy Hand Grenade they got!"

" _I miss that crown_ ," the pig grunted in response.

Junkrat stood up in the sidecar, striking a pose by raising his peg leg on top of it. "Things are gonna get crazy, explode-y, and, uh..., _MORE EXPLODE-Y_! Why? 'Cause Junkrat and Roadhog are back in the saddle again! No job too big, no score too small, explosions're our business, and we'll EXPLODE 'EM ALL!"

With its engine whining and tires screeching the bike took off, throwing Junkrat back over the sidecar and clinging on with just one hand, cackling maniacally as the machine and its psychotic occupants disappeared off into the distance.

Sombra walked up beside Satya, regarding her closely. The latter, her attention back on the ruins of the prison and her face drooped, seemed as though to feel it happening and turned her head slowly in her direction.

"You know, I never actually imagined that a Vishkar field uniform would look like... well, that," the former remarked, gesturing to Satya's choice of attire. "The headdress and the jewel are nice touches, but thigh-high boots and open legs?"

"It's practical, if that's what you are wondering," Satya replied, a regal pride colouring her voice. "I designed it myself, in fact."

Sombra smirked. "No offense, but it looks like something you wear to go dancing."

"That's the point. I learned how to dance when I was young, and it gave me an advantage when I was in the Academy. Therefore, your skepticism was unjustified."

"Skepticism?" Sombra raised her hands defensively. " _Nada_. Curiosity is more like it, though I think that's a concept you're a little less familiar with."

"Curiosity is something Vishkar doesn't approve of. Like I said, you do what you are told and do not ask questions."

Sombra raised an eyebrow and slid up closer to her friend. "Just because it's disapproved doesn't stop it from swimming around in there," she remarked, pointing a purple finger at Satya's head. "For instance, I'm sure you're curious as to why I sent you to break out the Dynamic Duo, _si_?"

Satya kept her face straight, but her eyes swiveled to her left and her lips tightened together in discomfort as her handler moved closer and closer. She kept her hands to herself, but the distance soon became short enough that their hair was brushing together and their shoulders touched.

"It's the same reason why we're so close together right now," Sombra continued, her voice hushing down to an intimate whisper. "It's something that's out of your comfort zone. And I know you're thinking, 'You shouldn't leave your comfort zone. It's exactly what the name implies.' Well, I hate to break it to you, but we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."

"I think in this context, shouldn't you be referring your quote to Dorothy?" Satya interjected.

Sombra smirked. "Are you always this pedantic?"

"Yes."

Her smirk now grew into a snicker before she rolled her eyes, briefly wondering what else she could have expected. "And that's one of the reasons I like you so much: You don't let the little details get past you. Anyways, the reason you freed those two because I owed them that case of gold they made off with. Payment for that job I told you they were hired for."

Satya's eyes briefly looked back forward with content, but flicked downward again as Sombra's words hit their chord. "What job?" she asked, the words coming off her tongue as though she were some kind of slur.

Sombra raised a finger to the architech's head, making a tapping motion without actually touching her. "C'mon, you know the answer already," she urged. "Use that perfect little memory of yours. I know it's rattling around in there somewhere."

Satya sighed as she thumbed through her memory, her eyes trailing off into the sky as she drew blank after blank until it came to her in one chilling instant, an instant she reasoned must have been overlooked in the hectic pace of the past few days since it had been the talk of the entire world ever since it happened.

The massacre at Versailles.

It all came back to her at once: The shock she'd felt on such a fundamental level as the news endlessly gawked over the carnage that had occurred inside the palace's gilded halls. She hadn't followed the peace talks with more than a passing interest, but her attention had been undivided for those times she'd seen the pundits speak of the chaos that had been unleashed and the people responsible.

People she'd just helped to spring from jail.

"They... killed people," she whispered, her tone a mixture of fear and regret. "Good people, and they will kill again."

Hiding a smile, Sombra spun on her heel to face her friend and brought one arm behind her back while another played with her hair. "It's true _amiga_ ," she stated sympathetically, "but things like this happen, and I have about as much say in my organization as you do in this matter. Do I want it to be different? Of course, I'm not blindly loyal."

"Then why not say something, or take some sort of action? A position outside of authority doesn't mean you're powerless to change things."

Satya's acquaintance clutched her arm with one hand while her face reflected the same unsettled feeling. Slowly it morphed away, however, replaced with a more jovial expression. "Don't worry," Sombra said. "I'll tell you. Later. Right now, if you ask me, the mood's getting a little dour. _¿Está de acuerdo?_ Do you agree?"

Satya looked over her shoulder with a frown. She closed her eyes, which had suddenly grown heavy with exhaustion as the adrenaline rush from her hatred of the mercenary lunatics wore off, and held them as such as she turned the rest of herself to face her handler. Slowly, she opened her eyes again. "I guess you could say that," she answered.

Sombra took a step back, keeping one hand on Satya's shoulder as she swayed her hips. "In that case, I've got an idea. You said you like dancing, right? Well, I know this great little place where we can go and take our minds off everything. It's a little out of your comfort zone, but that'll be good for you I think. Who knows? Maybe you'll enjoy it."

Satya crossed one arm over to hold the other. "I don't know. It's been a long and, if I may speak frankly-"

"Always."

"-A more eventful day than I was expecting. I'm not sure a social excursion is the best way to follow this up."

Sombra smiled eagerly as she herself crossed a leg behind the other. "I get it; You're tired, don't want to feel overwhelmed, especially when you're doing something new. Well, no need to fret: I'll give you a day to cool off before I send you the location. You don't have to if you're not feeling it, but it might do you some good to get out, expand your comfort zone a little."

The faintest of smiles crossed Satya's face, one that both masked skepticism and carried a genuine feeling that Sombra might have had a point. Stress had always been something that accentuated the introverted side of herself, sending her to find comfort in the usual. Reclusion, however, had its limits, and reaching them in the past had always proved to be taxing on her mental health. Perhaps a night out with fresh air and new company could do her well.

"In that case," she said. "thank you. I'll definitely think about it."

Sombra held her hands low as she clasped them together. " _Maravillosa_. Until then..." She leaned in close again, raising a finger and stopping it just short of Satya's nose. " _Boop_."

With that, the purple light enveloped her again before fading into a lavender-tinted transparency.

Satya followed suit by conjuring her teleporter and utilizing it to arrive back at her penthouse, her eyes heavier than ever and her skin feeling greasy with sweat and smoke as her mind diverged from the questions of the day. With the business she'd set out to do said and done with, the aftermath could wait until after a good rest, a hot shower, and a fresh cup of tea set her back at ease.

Even so, as she changed clothes with the flick of her hand and made her way up towards her bedroom, the consequences of her actions and where they might have led were something that proved inescapable. A grimace lined her face as one last thought crossed her mind just before falling onto her mattress and drifting off.

 _This is going to be more difficult than I thought_.


	9. Drinks, Dancing, And A Friend

As it turned out, there was more to the night than just dancing.

It had all had started out predictably; A memo sent the next day, as promised to Satya's phone with a set of coordinates and when to be there, along with the advice to " _dress casual, but sexy_." It was certainly an odd request, but Satya could see where it was coming from. Sombra's locale of choice was, according to the memo, a nightclub and bar in Castillo known as Calaveras, a place with an apparent reputation for energetic, alcohol-fueled nights that attracted a very sensual crowd. It was just the kind of place that Satya normally avoided regularly, but even after much needed rest and relaxation the opportunity to sweep away the traumas of the prison break without feeling the double-edged sword that was her normal seclusive methods was something that felt not worth passing up on.

Even so, it wasn't as though this option was problem-free either.

She sighed as she changed into something that, while conservative, she assumed would fit the bill. _This serves no practicality,_ she'd thought, looking herself over in the mirror and pursing her lips. _Unless attracting the attention of every lecherous troglodyte present is the goal, in which case tonight will be a complete success_.

All the same though, as the hour drew close, she kept confidence in her walk as she opened a portal in the common room and a faint smile on her face. If she was going to go to a place where enjoyment was not a guarantee, she resolved, she wasn't going to let the experience turn into a net loss by losing her professionalism entirely. If anything, at least, she'd be able to say at night's end that she was going somewhere she'd never been before.

It wasn't much of a comfort as she stepped through the portal, but she hoped it would make do.

On the other side Satya stepped out into an open plaza, the tap of cobblestones under her shoes as she first turned to close the portal, then back towards her surroundings. She adjusted her sari; The gentle breeze blowing in from the bay that the square overlooked was warm and brought a soothing ocean scent with it, giving her reason to not wear it quite so tightly.

In the quiet serenity, her senses beyond just sight began to take hold; The calls of seagulls took her to the edge of the courtyard where it dropped off towards the bay and overlooked the nearby towns dotting up from the lush green hillsides, each one marked by a great white pyramid that towered over its town like a sentinel. Memories of two years prior when controversy had entwined their creator and Vishkar bubbled up in Satya's mind, but were quickly set back down when she turned away. She was there to have fun, not to twist her stomach with confusion again.

The echoes of church bells next grabbed her attention, and so picking a narrow street out of the plaza and following it down brought her past the tight confines of brightly coloured apartments and family businesses, each one sporadically dirtied by graffiti but otherwise tidy, quaint, and overall ambivalent to senses and sensibilities alike.

None of which did anything that had been promised.

Satya sighed, peering up towards the stars through laundry lines strung from building to building. _So_ _why bring me here?_

She glanced down at a hologram of the coordinates, confirming that the time, address, and even exact latitude and longitude were all in order, and yet all appearances pointed in the direction of it being wrong, and if it was, she knew, there was one best way to correct it. Her eyes lowered with embarrassment as she reached for her phone, looking for where the return number on Sombra's message had been.

"Gotten lost, have we?" a voice queried.

By now Satya had gotten used to the voice, but its owner's uncanny ability to appear out of nowhere was still enough to make her flinch and drop her phone. Just to her left, Sombra materialized, wearing attire that served to flaunt considerably more by comparison to her counterpart's. Satya put her own silent judgements aside as she picked up and pocketed her phone; If she wanted to attract attention, then that was her problem.

" _Ay chica_ , you clean up great!" Sombra declared, placing her hands on Satya's shoulders and turning her so that they were facing each other. Eyeing her from top to bottom, she bit her lower lip and played with her hoop earrings. "I almost didn't think you had it in you," she purred.

Satya retreated back and dusted off her shoulders, wrapping her sari tighter. "To be honest, I don't. I feel like an imbecile."

"That just means you're out of your comfort zone, which if you remember," she raised a finger, again booping Satya on the nose. "is the point. Now c'mon, we're burning moonlight."

She grabbed her friend's hand and set off with enthusiastic speed, in response to which Satya whipped her hand out of her associate's grip and curled it behind her back, further lowering her posture's status.

Sombra stopped on a dime and did a one-eighty on her heel. "Something wrong _amiga_?"

Confused, Satya gestured to the buildings around her. "This can't be the right place. There's no indication of any sort of establishment here."

Sombra chuckled with amusement, swiping her hair aside as she strode back towards Satya. Placing her arm around her friend's shoulder, she guided her down a graffiti-stained alleyway, hidden in shadow from the streetlights but lit by luminescent paint, until they reached a section of wall marked thick with graffiti. Knocking in a distinctive pattern, a slit in the door opened and a pair of eyes, squinting hard under thin sunglasses, peered through and shouted something in Spanish behind him once they saw Sombra wave a flirtatious greeting and point to Satya. Within a few seconds, the peephole slid shut and the clicking of multiple locks being undone could be heard.

"Here in Castillo," she said, stepping aside and waving an 'after you' to her friend as the door swung open. "the best things are always hidden just out of sight."

Closing her eyes just long enough to take a calming breath, Satya set her shoulders back and crossed through the doorway with a relaxed regality to her step, but also with her eyes straight forward. Even as she was crossing the threshold into the undiscovered country outside of her comfort zone, she wasn't about to be caught unprepared and subjected to the forces of chaos.

It was a resolution that failed immediately.

No sooner had the door shut behind her when she was blindsided by the scene she'd walked into. From every angle strobe lights flashed a rainbow of colours that blurred her vision and jabbed needles in through her forehead, while a heavy thumping beat throbbed in her ears and reverberated in her stomach, leaving both feeling as though they were set to rupture. Shielding her stinging eyes from the lights, Satya briefly stumbled in no set direction until she bumped into one person, and then another, and another, and yet another still until it seemed as though she was packed in in every direction by a mass of people packed tighter than anchovies in a can.

The deepest, purest fear Satya had ever known gripped her, washing her face blank. _By gods, not again._

Raw instinct pumped into her veins through her racing heart, screaming for Satya to leave this instant, but the writhing swarm of humanity seemed to move with a mind of its own on the dance floor, forcing Satya in whichever direction it chose as she desperately clamoured for personal space. Backing into a corner, her eyes flicked around frantically, trying with frantic desperation to find some kind of escape - if not the door then Sombra, if not Sombra then solitude - before her senses were completely overloaded.

But in amongst the lights and the music and the humanity, it was impossible.

Sinking into the fetal position she retreated into her mind, but the noise drowned out thoughts before they could coalesce. She rocked back and forth, eyes wide with terror and streaming tears and her hair falling over her face, thick and heavy with sweat, as the room swirled around her with no sense of up and down or concept of time and space. Under her breath she prayed for salvation, for someone or something to take her away from the concentrated chaos that meant to batter her mind, body, and spirit until they crumbled away like dust in the wind.

" _Need a hand, amiga?_ "

The words cut through the pandemonium like a knife as she looked through her heavy eyes and saw Sombra standing in front of her, reaching out a hand to aid in navigating the chaos.

Her prayers had been answered.

She took Sombra's hand delicately, her own trembling, as she raised back up onto her own two feet before being spirited through the crowd and away from the horror into the next room over. The overpowering sight and sound of the dance floor faded away into quiet ambience as their pace slowed and they stopped on a pair of bar stools.

"Shh, it's OK," her saviour cooed, keeping an arm over her heaving shoulders as her head sank into a flood of tears. "You're safe now. You'll be alright."

Eventually, as adrenaline and emotion drifted off and rationality and order were able to sprout back into her thoughts again, Satya raised her head and shook off Sombra's arm, sniffing in and wiping off her face. "Where are we?" she croaked, her voice hoarse.

Sombra swept her arm around, spinning on her seat as she did. "Welcome to Calaveras."

Rotating on her seat until she'd gone a full three hundred sixty degrees as her vision cleared showed Satya the small, dimly-lit bar at which they sat and introduced her to the smell of cheap alcohol and cigarette smoke that hung thick in the air. Across the room, an aging player piano created a bouncy riff while the Omnic on the room's small stage sang a steamy tune to a small crowd.

Sombra gestured to the silver-haired bartender, who slid a full shot glass over almost instantly without even looking at her. At the command of another gesture, he backed towards them, plucked a bottle of tequila off the rack, and set it down between the two before sliding over another shot glass, this one empty. "Care for something? My treat," she offered as she popped the cork off the bottle. "It might help calm you down."

Satya lightly pushed the glass away. "Thank you, but I don't drink," she answered, quiet but direct.

Sombra raised an eyebrow before looking off in the opposite direction, a funny smile just peeking around the corner of her cheek that struck a pang of self-consciousness in Satya.  
"It's a choice," she added.

Shrugging, Sombra reached for the neck of the bottle and filled up the second glass before sliding the bottle aside. "Oh well," she said before raising both glasses first up, then down, then outstretched in front before finally bringing them in close and downing both in quick succession. Satya's brow furrowed with concern as her acquaintance nearly doubled over in a coughing fit, but after a few quick knocks on her collarbone with her fist Sombra was sitting back up straight. "You realize this means you're driving, right?" she sputtered.

Satya blinked several times, further puzzled. "I don't have a vehicle. I can take you to your place once we leave, if that's what you mean."

Sombra tried to force a straight face before breaking into a laugh. "Ah, c'mon, it's a joke. I get funny when I'm drunk, though it usually doesn't take this quick." She eyed the bartender before downing another glass. "Herman must have finally gotten the good stuff, the _agarrado_."

Satya's face drooped. "Well," she said, folding her arms on the bar and propping her chin on them. "I guess I don't have much of a sense of humour."

As she did so, the laughter on her face faded away and her expression grew solemn.

"Hey listen, before I get any further into this..." She pointed towards the bottle, in response to which Satya sighed before offering her full attention.

"About back at the dance floor, I'm really, _really_ sorry," Sombra continued. "Yeah, I wanted to get you out of your comfort zone, but I guess I didn't see that I was taking it a step too far. I should have known better after that story you told me, and I'm definitely not going to let it happen again."  
She lowered her head so that she was looking down at her lap and let her hair fall over her face. "You don't have to forgive me if you don't want to, but I just wanted to let you know. I guess I had faith in you that you could handle it, and I guess I still do."

During the silence that followed Satya readjusted herself in her chair, her eyes wandering around in the direction of the patrons near the stage, to the moths circling the lights on the ceiling, and to the stained stucco walls and bare wood paneling that lined the room. While the interior decoration wasn't something she would have taken to herself, there was a certain quality about it that released the tension in her muscles, a sense that there was order to be found in its strange, musky existence, even if it wasn't the most conventional. At the very least, it was far preferable to the alternative.

At the very best, it was something she could only describe as... _charming_.

A word that also fit the vote of confidence that she'd just been given.

Finally, she spoke up. "Are you still telling me the truth?"

"Of course," Sombra rasped through another sip. "Well, either that or I'm just drunk."

Satya snickered for a moment before she breathed in and loosened her sari, letting it slide off her shoulders and down her arms as she pushed back her hair again. "In that hall, when you found me, I was having an episode just like what happened in that story I told you, the one you said was 'sensory overload'. I was about to curl up and lose myself, but then I heard you and saw you and suddenly, I could think again. I just felt... assured, like I knew you would keep me safe."

Sombra adjusted her seat, moving ever so slightly out of the light overhead to hide her glimmering eyes.

"I mean," Satya continued. "it seems like you just made a mistake. I wish you hadn't, but I am grateful that you got me out of it."

A thin smile crossing her lavender lips, Sombra brushed her hair back over to one side and slid her glass closer. "You're something else, y'know that? Most people I can read pretty easily, but you," She booped Satya on the nose again, leaning back almost far enough to tip over with the recoil. "You're special. Under all that rigid 'order and chaos' stuff, you've got something that I think really sets you apart."

Satya wondered whether to cover her face in case Sombra could see her blush. "Well, you've certainly set yourself apart from my last handler," she giggled.

" _Si_ , Sanjay isn't my type either. I guess that's just bosses sometimes." She paused long enough to down her next glass before looking directly into Satya's eyes. "Y'know, that reminds me: I still owe you an explanation from yesterday. You remember that, right?"

A mix of pride and desire for closure coloured Satya's look. "I don't usually forget things. I was actually hoping that I could find what you meant tonight."

"Great minds think alike."

Before she continued on, Sombra exhaled slowly and filled and downed another glass, pounding her fist on her chest again until she had wind enough back to speak again. "The reason why I couldn't tell you about those two _locos_ ," she said. "is because where we were wasn't safe. When you're out in the open, you never know just who is listening to you."

An innocent uncertainty found its way into Satya's inflection. "I didn't see anything."

"That just means they're good at hiding. You don't always see me show up, do you?"

Satya's eyes fell downward in concession as her colleague extended one hand out and summoned a holographic map in its palm. "I wish I could tell you more, but I don't think you'd believe me if I didn't give you evidence to back it up. Tomorrow, you'll need to go to this place. It's nothing huge, just a walk-around of my boss' office, a meet-and-greet of the others I work with; that sort of thing. Quite the _personajes,_ they are. I think you'll learn a few things."

A long lull followed before Satya broke the silence. "And...?"

"And that's it. A simple day to follow up the crazy one you had. I just need you to do one other thing for me." She leaned over in her bar stool towards Satya until it almost seemed like their noses were about to touch. "I need you to be curious," she said, her voice as urgent as her face was serious. "Not just now, not just then, but always. Always ask questions, always want to know why, and if they won't tell you always look for answers. You have no idea how much it'll help you."

She retreated back in her initial posture as Satya spun towards the bar, her mind flipping between new questions and old alike. On one hand, it almost seemed as though Sombra hadn't given her a full answer, a classic Sanjay move. On the other hand, there was still that sense of trust churning in her gut instincts, and her apology earlier hadn't given off anything that indicated insincerity.

Even then though, what was she being told to do? Disobey years of Vishkar training, overstep her boundaries, give chaos an upper hand in her never-ending battle against it, by someone who she'd met less than a week ago?

Or was she being asked by a woman who understood her better than just about anyone else to use one small piece of her unique talents that had helped her to solve the Suravasa problem?

Or that could have prevented Rio from happening?

She kept her shoulders down as she drew in a deep breath, making sure that nothing held sway on her words but what she had in mind. "Very well," she answered. "I will try."

Sombra sat back up in her chair and smiled meaningfully. "I knew I could count on you." She picked up her glass and held it aloft in a toast. "To friendship."

Satya pursed her lips awkwardly until a scraping sound alerted her to the glass filled with water sliding her way, alongside a silent ' _you're welcome'_ from Herman the bartender.

She raised her glass and clinked it against Sombra's before repeating the motion she'd seen done earlier. "To trust."

Just as they both downed their sips, the music picked back up again. Both their attentions attracted towards the stage, the songstress from earlier had been replaced by a pair of men, one with an acoustic guitar and the other with a set of bongos. Together, the two of them played an upbeat melody while singing in Spanish.

Sombra's face lit up like a light. "Ooh, I love this song!" she proclaimed, clapping her hands.

Satya, for her part, listened with a more critical ear. "They are decent with their instruments," she said. "but I don't know what the lyrics are."

Sombra chuckled as she jumped off the barstool. "You really need to learn Spanish, _amiga_. You hear that one word they're repeating?"

"Yes. What does it mean?"

"Well," she laughed nervously. "I'll just let you look it up."  
Just then, her eyes twinkled with inspiration and a grin swept across her face. "You know, the night's still young, and I did say we were going dancing. You thinking what I'm thinking, _chica_?"

Satya caught on swiftly, but a peculiar feeling kept her in her seat. This was hardly the kind of place or music she typically danced to, and yet what she felt wasn't the usual trepidation and butterflies that would have had her turn away and shut it out.

What she felt, what she saw as Sombra eagerly awaited was...

 _Excitement?_ Not only that, but it felt _good?_

 _Yes, good_.

She unwrapped her sari and draped it over her chair, a smile extending as well as an open palm towards her friend. "Shall we dance?"

Without saying a word more, Sombra grabbed her hand and guided the two of them to an open area just in front of the bar. While she herself did a simple groove, Satya held nothing back, launching into her full dance regimen in all its elegant magnificence. By the time the song was over, the assembled patrons and even the musicians were applauding her.

Her heart raced as she looked around her. She was the centre of attention, the apple of every dilated eye and the object of every impulsive affection in the room, but the thought wasn't as discomforting as it should have been. If anything, as her smile grew into a joyous grin, a night on the town was something was the most fun she could remember having in a long time.

Her new friend made sure of it.


	10. Curiosity

The rest of the night turned out much the same.

Looking back on it, Satya couldn't really have imagined it going any different; between Sombra downing a few more tequila bottles single-handedly and herself on the verge of taking requests as for what song to dance to, her feelings as she guided Sombra to the place she said was her apartment as the first rays of sunlight peered over the bay, arm slung under her friend's shoulders to keep her from faceplanting on the cobblestones, couldn't have been a further cry from where they'd come from. Even after the shock and confusion as Sombra had planted a kiss on her lips before shutting the door, by the time Satya returned to her own place she couldn't make herself do anything beyond squirm in her bed with exhilaration for what felt like hours on end.

It was the most fun she'd ever had in her life, and she couldn't wait until she got the chance to do it all over again.

That particular dream, however, ended up being cut short by the chirping of her phone, to which the idea of leaving it for just five more precious minutes crossed her mind.

The notion fleeted, however, as she rolled over towards her headboard and, nearly knocking over her alarm clock in the dark, stretched for the phone and held it aloft as she read the new message.

* * *

**_Hola mi amiga,_ **

**Today's the big day; I know you're going to impress the** **_gran jefe_** **. Normally I'd go with you, but I don't place much faith in my stomach keeping everything together if I try to stand up. Word of advice: the next time I decide to down shots of Herman's new tequila like Tic-Tacs, just hit me. Hard. In the face. I'm certain it won't hurt worse than this damn migraine.**

 **Don't worry, I'll be fine: Time heals all wounds** **_y otras cosas por el estilo_** **(ah shit, I forgot you don't know Spanish :P Basically, it means "and all that jazz"). Anyways, I *should* be back on my feet by the time you're done. As always, I've sent you the coordinates. We'll meet back at your place. I'd love to hear all about it.**

**-Sombra.**

**P.S. Remember what I said. Be curious.**

**P.P.S. Sorry about the kiss. I also get a little randy, if you know what I mean, when I'm drunk. _No es personal_ (Dammit, I did it again XD)**

* * *

Satya sighed; she'd barely remembered that this day was booked just as solidly as the one before that magical night, an error in judgement that the bags under her eyes were now almost giving her reason to regret the whole thing.

Still, she found reason enough to smile as she crawled out of bed and stretched. _Almost_.

Likewise, as she took her morning routine through its paces, she found a familiar feeling slowing her pace towards the shower and causing her to place a hand on her chest as she felt her heartbeat accelerating even before she'd begun her dances.

One that, like the others, had memories tied to it which weren't always pleasant to bring back.

What did bring a smile to her face, though, was the similarity she was able to trace between the days of old and the night before. Back then, she had stayed behind in the aftermath of a major company social event, a fresh apple plucked from the Academy's branches who, after a night of controlled and predictable - but almost entirely uninteresting - interaction, was admiring a painting that hung inside the gathering hall.

It was when she'd straightened the frame that _he_ had made his appearance...

* * *

_"A masterpiece, isn't it?"_

_Satya looked over at the person who stood alongside her, a young man with a wide nose and mildly pointed chin wearing a Vishkar uniform, eyes searching over the picture of a small collection of people in Victorian dress walking past a forested park. Her eyes flicked downward and fluttered with uncertainty; Was she supposed to answer him? She hadn't seen him before, so was she supposed to know him? She'd been cordial all night, but none of the protocols she'd gone over had said anything about meetings after the fact. Either way, she'd be taking a chance that this could end up turning out awkwardly, an outcome she actively tried to avoid. On the other hand, s_ _he'd gone this far without embarrassment, so past experience was in her favour._

_After a few seconds, she slowly glanced over at him, keeping her status low. "Yes," she responded. "Very much so."_

_The man's gaze came over to meet hers. "I especially enjoy how this particular work reflects the company and it stands for," he continued. "Each brush stroke is precise, its intentions well defined. Everything on the canvas has an exact place within the artist's vision and he doesn't compromise at any point to see it through. Without a doubt preferable to the surreal movement of its era."_

_Satya's posture loosened and her stance widened slightly. Conversation rarely came naturally to her, but someone who shared her beliefs and interests could spark her to chattering with little trouble. "I agree," she said. "I also appreciate how the artist does not mix the colours, further exemplifying the contrast with its contemporaries."_

_"And magnifying the reflection. There is right, and then there is wrong. Good and evil, day and night, order and chaos. Each one is evident, easy to stay within the boundaries of, and must be taught to the unlearned._ _All it takes to see the difference is the right mindset._ _"_

_The beginnings of a faint smile curled up her lips. "True, but look at how naturally the colours fit together, how soft yet precise the brush strokes are as though they were dancing across the canvas, and simply the overall serenity of the painting. To me, that symbolizes how order is instilled through peace, peace is gained through calm, and calm is achieved through order."_

_An eyebrow crept up the man's forehead as he turned his body in the same direction as his head. "That's very beautiful. Where did you get it?"_

_"I came up with it myself," Satya bragged. "It has helped me a great deal for some time now."_

_The man's eyes twinkled as he came closer. "In that case," he said. "I believe I've heard all I need to hear." Stopping just short of her personal space, he bowed to her. "Sanjay Korpal, Director of Field Operations, at your service."_

_"Satya Vaswani," she replied, returning the gesture. "Humbly at yours, sir."_

_Sanjay rose and adjusted his collar. "If that's so, then I offer you my sincerest welcome," He spread his arms outward welcomingly. "to the newest operative in the Division."_

_The silence that followed Satya's own arising drew out to a transparent degree, one that discomforted no one more than herself. "I'm not sure why you chose me, sir," she said, her tone direct but still submissive. "My expertise is in Architecture."_

_"I am aware," he replied, his own tone slick but friendly. "But such creativity and cunning as yours, the kind that I saw you practice earlier tonight, much less that I hear garners the highest marks in Academy history, can't be squandered on drawing blueprints and erecting skyscrapers."_

_Satya scraped the toe of one foot abashedly along the floor._

_"The truth is," Sanjay continued. "you have something that I rarely see in my lines of work: Potential, of the kind that I feel can bring order to a chaotic world. It may seem daunting at first, but nothing worthwhile comes easy. I am certain you learned that in the Academy as well."_

_Satya gave a faint shrug. It hadn't been entirely the case given her natural aptitudes, but the work she'd put into getting this far was something she took immense pride in and great joy when it was recognized. "Yes, I did."_

_"In light of that, come." He began to walk towards the hall's exit, gesturing for her to follow him. "I imagine we can talk about much more than paintings. After all, we have peace to achieve and calm to gain if order is to be instilled, but once that's done I promise you we'll have made a better world."_

_Confidence rolled Satya's shoulders back as she joined him, internally reveling in the acclaim._ _"I look forward to it."_

* * *

Satya shook her head. _If only it had been so._

What had come after was a sigh-inducing source of regret: Sanjay's ruthless approach to delicate matters, his mewling diplomacy around his own superiors, and his unchecked ambition made her wish at times that she'd seen beyond his slick initial approach. He'd pressed all her right buttons, only to lead her in a direction that seemed to cause as many problems as it solved.

Thankfully, Sombra had, at least in this early stage, proven to be different, and with any hope her own bosses would be different.

 _Hope_. Another new concept that she reflexively curled her nose up at as it boarded her train of thought. To hope for something was to take a chance on whether or not it would truly work out, and chance was an age-old bedfellow to chaos. What sort of point was there to hoping for anything when the chance existed that it could just end up crashing and burning? Hope, she knew, was a dangerous game, and one she'd never let herself play.

Her preparations done and the notions flickering away like a dying candle, she summoned the pathway to Sombra's coordinates and, steeling herself with one last deep breath, stepped through to the other side.

 _With all certainty_ , she mentally reasserted. _Sombra's bosses will be different_.

When she arrived at the location, she was standing on a balcony overlooking a sheer chasm that, peering over the edge, must have dropped over a thousand feet straight down. On the other side, mountains protruded similarly upwards, pointing towards the midday sky with rugged grandeur. She would have observed the landscape for a little longer, but with no one around at the locale she was left to wait, looking out over the ledge towards the city that stood like miniature figurines so far off in the distance.

And wait, and wait, and wait until peering at the time on her phone sent her into a cold sweat in an instant.

No one was coming to meet her.

For an instant she clung to the idea that she'd forgotten the time or some piece of the coordinates, but plumbing her flawless memory only to realize she hadn't only served to shallow her breath and leave her feeling light-headed, while looking to the left and considering looking inside the great oak doors that led inside the mountain just led to new fears of creating an awkward situation, not to mention presuming to be rude if there was in fact someone coming. The only idea left, one of opening another portal, returning home, and aborting a plan that was missing its most crucial aspect, was nearly brought into fruition when two simple words cut through her fear like a scalpel.

 _Be curious_.

Even with recent events, Sombra's profound advice still felt fresh. It seemed like opportunity was presenting itself yet again, but with her track record of opportunity being as imperfect as it was there was also presented the kind of chances she despised.

Chances that had led to the thrills of commanding the praise of a crowd with her dances...

She centered herself in her current room before she closed her eyes and took in long, deep breaths for some time, letting Sombra's message stop the chill that ran down her spine while her mantra swept through her mind and pacified her emotions. Disorder could never win nor would she let it, but that didn't mean she couldn't find a way to fulfill the promise she'd made to Sombra.

Her feelings calmed, she followed the balcony and moved inside through the doors, entering a great hallway with plush red carpets, marble tiles that echoed with each step, and mahogany walls lined with sculptures and priceless paintings. Rising curiosity guiding her forth she followed it into another hallway, and another, and yet another still until they led to massive rooms lit by chandeliers and decorated in the same way as the halls. Eventually, as each twist and turn led to another, she realized the complex she was exploring was carved inside the mountain, with a stately mansion at the very peak and the rest hidden from sight inside massive hollow chambers arranged in a pattern akin to a staircase. For a brief moment she congratulated herself for the discovery; patterns were the easiest of all things for her to remember, and picking them out reinforced her pride as well as her decision.

And so she kept going further.

Her progressing adventure eventually took her down deeper and deeper within the corridors until she noticed that the surroundings were becoming more modern, with pure white colouration and modern building materials taking the place of the vibrant reds and sturdy browns, and steel, glass, and plastic being used more often than wood and gold until it led to a locked, unmarked door. Absent-mindedly Satya went to turn around, but a sly, self-assured smile crept up over her lips before she could.

Her curiosity was fully piqued, so why stop now?

Within a few seconds, the lock had been fully picked apart and the door slid open, to which she scoffed with self-assurance again. Stepping inside the newly uncovered room, ceiling-mounted lights gradually illuminated themselves, revealing contents that added even further intrigue. Strewn across various counters and hanging from the walls and roof were machines, each one looking more surgical - and in some cases insidious - than the last. The silvery, flaring gleam of polished instruments momentarily forced Satya to cover her eyes as another, more uneasy feeling took root. What was what looked to be a combination of a laboratory and a doctor's office doing inside a mansion in a mountain, she wondered. She was eager to find an answer, but something churned in her stomach that made her worry that it wasn't going to be quite as pleasant as what she'd driven herself forward with the promise of.

But even so, the strangest was yet to come.

Turning a corner in the laboratory brought Satya to a hospital bed, its occupant an unconscious woman with knee-length raven hair, thin ruby lips, and striking purple skin. Embedded in her arms were multiple tubes of fluid that pumped a variety of fluids, while a heart rate monitor next to the bed beeped inhumanly slowly.

Satya took a step back, her blood slowly turning to ice. In this sleep, the woman didn't look peaceful. With the way her chest wasn't rising and falling, how her abnormally stiff position looked induced, there didn't seem to be anything human, or even natural in the Omnic sense, with this... _Person? Being? Thing?_ It was as though whoever they were, they were a completely blank slate.

Tabula Rasa, but in the most twisted way Satya could imagine.

Her head flinched away as the sight became too uncomfortable to bear, leading her vision towards a suspended animation tank that extended from the floor to the wall, it too hooked to various tubes. Inside though wasn't what seemed to be a person or even any sort of liquid, but rather the tank held a great cloud of jet-black mist that slowly twisted around itself, a contorting mass so thick that Satya couldn't see if there was anything within as she drew in closer, her eyes wide with a memorization that swiftly overtook her perturbed feeling.

Each step towards the tank, however, only brought a continued inability to pierce the chaotic veil and find the eye of the storm, which in turn compelled her closer and closer until her nose nearly pressed against the glass. From such a close proximity, she almost thought she could hear the mist, and it seemed to be making the sound of a whisper-quiet, perpetual exhale without a single pause for breath.

Whatever was in there she had no clue, but something itching at the back of her mind told her it was... _Alive?_

Without warning, something inside the tank rapidly took shape, becoming a pale face resembling some sort of ghost, with soulless eyes and a dagger-pointed nose. Satya yelped at the sight and jumped back as it faded away into the mist. Before she could catch and settle herself down, a sharp, whining hiss further startled her as a hole in the top of the tank opened and some sort of gas was added through a tube. As it happened, the already-dim lights flickered and the dark maelstrom intensified, shaking its enclosure violently. Her veins now frozen and the limit where curiosity turned to fear found, equal parts instinct and logic told Satya to leave before whoever- or whatever - she'd just stumbled across could scare her any further.

Until she felt an icy hand wrap around her throat and squeeze hard.

Simultaneously, the lights ceased to flicker and settled on beaming steadily downward once again, revealing that the hand now trying to choke out Satya belonged to the inhuman woman, now conscious and standing, her unblinking yellow eyes locked on their target with lethal intent.

Every frantic kick, elbow, gouge, bite, and grab she delivered was done so with all her fading might, but the thing only squeezed tighter, lifting Satya onto her tiptoes as they itself stood up. Soon each gasp for air she took became shorter than the last, and as her lungs burned for sweet, life-giving air and her vision began to blur, a rush of icy fear gripped her even tighter. She plumbed her mind for any desperate solution, but all it could pull up was sheer panic.

That was, until a sudden voice echoed in her ears.


	11. Limitless

" _Cygne._ "

As quickly as it had tightened, the woman's hold upon Satya's throat began to loosen enough that she didn't die right then and there, but not enough to remove the nails that dug into her neck, drawing a trickle of blood that ran cold down her skin.

" _Battement de cœur. Quarante-trois."_

Though she still choked under the crushing pressure against her windpipe, Satya's vision began to clear, while the ringing echo of the voice, a dry alto, became closer. Peering over the attacker's shoulder through the blinding glare of the light directly above proved impossible, but looking down could have sworn she saw their eyes flutter involuntarily, as though very certain wheels in their head were being turned.

" _Vivant. Glace._ _Zéro."_

Where the assailant's lower lip quivered, Satya's teeth clenched. What little air was being allowed back into circulation had removed her light-headedness and replaced it with a splitting pain. She tried to spit out for whoever was speaking to hurry up, but the words only spluttered forth unintelligibly, leaving her to hang even longer with her life literally in the hand of this, this... _Being!_

" _Recréer. Mariage. Deux. Enlever._ "

At last, the would-be killer relinquished her death grip, allowing Satya to collapse to her hands and knees, coughing and sputtering for precious, life-giving oxygen.

The voice from nowhere, meanwhile, continued on. " _Soldate_?"

For the first time, as she looked back up at the assassin, Satya took note of the rises and falls of their chest and shoulders, though their eyes were once again an empty pit. " _En attente des commandes_ ," the attacker said, their musky voice as blank as the look in their eyes.

The unseen voice's accent changed, though with her senses still dulled by near-asphyxiation Satya couldn't quite tell to what. _Is that... Irish, maybe?_

"Stand down. Return to stasis function until further notice."

No sooner had the order been given when Satya watched the assassin glide back into her bed and return to their sleep, as still as though they were dead.

The danger though, so far as she knew, was much more active.

Slowly and methodically, Satya attempted to stand as her breathing returned to a steady level, but only made it so far as one knee before her head went light again and she nearly blacked out, dropping her back to square one. Waiting once again for her sight to return, she could feel sweat dripping down her face and arms and greasing her hand as she tried to brush her hair back again, only to lose balance again and fall to her forearms.

 _Why_ , she asked herself, burying her head into her forearms as she struggled to keep from breaking down entirely. _Why did I open that door?_

The question repeated over and over again, desperately seeking an answer that could make sense of her panic and stress and set her mind back at ease, until it was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder that sent a chill down her spine.

"Are you alright?" the mystery voice asked.

Satya answered by instinct; With speed she didn't know she had she jolted up and onto her backside, hyperventilating again as she crawled back until she hit the bedframe and her photon projector took form in a trembling hand, pointing in the direction of a woman with a gaunt, pointed face and short auburn hair, wearing a dress shirt and tie, and most curiously with one eye coloured blue and another red.

"Calm yourself, child," the woman assured, her voice as dry as before. "You are in no danger."

Satya attempted to harden her gaze, pursing her lips to hide the terror that coursed through her veins and keep her weapon pointing in a threatening direction.

The woman, though, made no reaction of defense. If anything, the way she folded one arm behind her back and how she bent over slightly seemed to indicate what could only be construed as curiosity.  
"I can see that you are obviously stressed," she said. "but that does not provide a reason to resort to such tedious methods." She drew closer, holding out her hand and snapping her fingers when Satya didn't give any visual response.

"Perhaps then," she continued. "you should apply logic to this situation. Think about it: If I wished to harm you, why would I have saved your life?"

Between the cold calm in the woman's tone and the slowing pace of events, the air circulation had finally been provided the chance to return to Satya's head, while the deluges of panic and terror that had taken the wheel finally relinquished in favour of said logic.

Logic that, under a brow that first furrowed and then drooped, proved the woman right. If she had meant harm, she wouldn't have called off someone who most certainly did.

Letting the tenseness in her extremities and core finally loosen, Satya's arm dropped to the ground as her projector vanished into air thinner than her own exhale. "Thank you," she said, accepting the woman's hand and using it to list herself up. "I apologize for my actions, as well."

"Unnecessary," the woman stated. "Cognitive function suffers when the brain is deprived of oxygen and when the fight or flight instinct takes over. It's perfectly understandable - if not mildly undignified - to react as you did."

Satya's eyes flicked downward in shame as she brushed a lock of hair that had gone astray back into place.. "Thank you... for understanding," she answered quietly.

"Still," the woman continued. "There is little reason to fear or abhor death. From a scientific standpoint it is completely natural, and in my experience most often welcome." She paced slowly around the side and behind Satya, folding her previously dominant arm behind her back and revealing a black, withered one. "If you're one to accept the dogmatic trappings of religion and morality and are thus afraid of post-mortal judgement, then think of it this way: In Hell you shall enjoy the company of kings, popes, and princes, while in Heaven are only beggars, monks, and apostles."

Confusion painted itself across Satya's face as she found herself at a loss for words, all while trying to unnoticeably avert her gaze from the fearful asymmetry affronting her.

The woman's face morphed from sympathetic to stern as she straightened her tie before stepping closer, giving a stare that felt as though it were cutting through to Satya's very soul. "What I don't understand, however," she said. "is why you were snooping in places you shouldn't have been to begin with."

The asymmetry of a pale blue and deep crimson eye further triggered a desire to look away, but the embarrassment of allowing herself to be caught in a scenario as compromising as this felt was stronger still. If there was one thing more unbecoming than chaos and emotional displays in front of friends, it was chaos and emotional displays in front of complete strangers.

"I was sent here by a woman named Sombra," Satya replied, brushing off her shoulders and drying out her tone in a way similar to the woman's. "To meet the person in charge of the organization that owns this complex."

The woman raised an eyebrow at the name drop as a smile spread across one side of her face. "Fascinating..." she whispered, her eyes narrowing in contemplation as she first peered off into the middle distance, then down at something that renewed her interest. Satya, following the woman's gaze first and the direction which she began walking in second, felt an anxious pang as the woman stepped next to the bed and studied the monitor before gesturing for Satya to come closer, a request that was obliged with extreme apprehension.

"She's harmless in this state," the woman explained. "I'm afraid you had the misfortune of catching her at the end of the re-conditioning period. What you heard me say was a series of code words, meant to prepare her subconscious against any... distractions, shall we say."

Confusion once again crossed Satya's face. "Condition? You mean that you trained her to do that?"

The woman raised her withered hand in front of her, looking it over as she adjusted the cuff of her sleeve. "Not trained, child," she purred, her voice inflected with a subtle tinge of pride. "Engineered. She was created in this very laboratory, as was the one just to your left. They were created to kill and as such, as I regret that you nearly learned through experience, they are essentially Death incarnate to whomever they cross."

Satya looked over her shoulder at the swirling mass inside the tank as something inside her chest did the same to a degree that left her feeling profoundly uncomfortable, the fight or flight instinct mentioned earlier grappling with her calming techniques. That science followed the laws of nature was something she'd known for most of her life, but everything within her at this moment said the same thing: There was nothing natural about these two.

As for their creator and her saviour, that answer was harder to ascertain.

"And you," the woman said, looking up and over to her guest. "How might you have come to know Sombra?"

A brief moment passed before Satya snapped out of her thoughts, though her eyes flicked between the black tempest and the assassin as she spoke. "She is my handler," she answered assuredly. "and my friend."

"I haven't seen you before. Where did Sombra find you?"

"I am an employee of Vishkar."

The woman's thin lips slowly parted into a grin. "Then it's my pleasure to make your acquaintance." She extended her withered hand out to shake. "Moira O'Deorain, Oasis Minister of Genetics."

It took no trouble for Satya to return the gesture, but not looking down at the inky veins that coursed and throbbed along Moira's sickly pale skin required a degree of decorum and mental focus that proved frustratingly difficult to maintain, especially when it felt as though her life was being physically leeched from her body by the withered hand's mere touch.

When she finally withdrew her grasp, she forced down the sensation as a chill ran up her spine and glanced at the hand for no more than a second. "Satya Vaswani."

"As I said, Ms. Vaswani, the pleasure's all mine. I've been following Vishkar's work for some time, and I must say I'm very impressed with the contributions they have made to the world of science. What was your position?"

The familiarity of the conversation had a relaxing effect, as did releasing herself from the handshake. "Architecture, but I recently transferred to a long-term assignment in Higher New York."

Moira chuckled as she began to circle the bed. "I'm assuming you know Sanjay Korpal then?"

 _How many people does Sanjay know?_ "...Yes. How do you know him?"

Moira rolled her eyes as she stopped briefly by the tank, examining a dial connected to the largest tube. "One of his 'side projects', if they can be described by any term quite so flattering, has been attempting to win over the Ministry as though he were Henry V standing before his men on Saint Crispin's Day. His persistence is admirable, but he only fools himself if he thinks anything he can offer would catch the minds of the technocrats."

A mixture of uncertainty and second-hand offense left a response difficult for Satya to come up with, but whatever was about to roll off her tongue was interrupted when Moira suddenly placed a spindly finger under Satya's chin and tilted her head back slightly.

"Now now, look what's happened here," she cooed, tut-tutting as her finger slid down Satya's neck and felt over the cut. "We can't let that go untreated."

Her skin growing cold under the withered hand's draining influence, Satya lowered her head as the stranger's long nails scraped across on her skin and turned a foot in anticipation of leaving. "That's very thoughtful, but I should be going. I'm expected for a meeting, unless... you're the boss Sombra was talking about?"

Moira scoffed. "I regret to tell you no, but you're not far from where he is. You wouldn't want to meet him looking any less than perfect, however."

Satya's eyes panned down towards her feet in concession, though her shoulders shifted towards the door. "I don't want to trouble you any more than I have. Do you have a bandage I could use?"

"A bandage?" Moira's tone flipped to incredulous in an instant, the fiery red in her eye almost glowing in offense by the choice of words for a split second before a slow blink restored it to normal. "No," she said. "I have something far superior."

With swift determination, she whisked past Satya before stopping at a rolling chair located under a large instrument of some kind. On the counter next to it sat a device that appeared to be a combination of a centrifuge and an IV fluid set. Turning around, the scientist gestured for Satya to come and sit down, to which she hesitantly agreed.

Taking her seat, the machine seemed to loom over her, a long, silvery arm craning out from the counter, protruding from the shadows and into the light, where its cold, pragmatic design gained an air of the sinister.

"What are you going to do?" Satya asked, apprehension hollowing out her voice.

Moira's expression remained unchanged as she knelt down in front of Satya and wiped off the dried blood on the cut with a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant. "Just wait and see."

The injury cleaned, the scientist turned her attention to the device, filling a clear, finger-sized vial with some sort of black solution with the flip of a switch and spinning it in the centrifuge for a few seconds before, once it had ground to a halt, the liquid was sucked up through a tube and into the IV bag. Again, she grasped Satya's chin with her withered hand, using her regular one to insert the end of a second tube that snaked from the container into her patient's wound. Satya briefly squirmed from the feeling caused as the tube was inserted and the compound made its way into her neck, but relented as the feeling dulled with familiarity. As the machine began to hum quietly, Moira sidestepped to another part of the counter and began fiddling with another sample.

Satya squirmed again; whatever was being pumped into her veins raised goosebumps on her arms and left a frosty, burning sensation where the tube ended and her veins began. Her muscles tightened and ached as though they were being inflated like a balloon while her mind spun with a kaleidoscope of uncertainties. This scientist, this Moira, was a walking paradox: Physically she seemed to embody asymmetry and chaos, from her black, sickly arm to her crimson pupil, but at the same time she carried herself in a manner that was as calm and controlled as it was dry and snobbish. How a person could balance such juxtapositions in their life was beyond Satya, and it left her with her head and neck slumped as her thoughts were buoyed with the task of making sense of it.

"You feel unnerved, don't you?"

The question snapped Satya's posture back up and turned her head towards the person who'd asked it, now watching her with the same interest as before. "Excuse me?" Satya asked, looking for clarification.

"Earlier, you had trouble looking me in the eye. Just now, you squirmed when I held you still. It isn't difficult to see that some fundamental distaste as been triggered by my conditions."

Satya kept her eyes downward, trying to avoid the corner she had a growing fear she'd backed herself into and keep her stomach from churning with embarrassment.

"I require an answer," Moira urged.

Unable to avoid it any longer, Satya curled her legs under the chair and hid her head between her shoulders. "In my opinion," she explained. "it seems asymmetrical. I don't know why anyone could stand to live with themselves not being uniform."

Slowly, a grin crossed Moira's thin lips. "Tell me, Ms. Vaswani. Why do you have a prosthetic arm?"

Satya's declined her head to peer down towards the limb in question. The design she had with her business uniform was meant to look organic, but evidently not enough so that it could fool everyone. Memories flashed through her mind; Undergoing physical enhancement was mandatory for Vishkar field agents, but she had been the only one of her contemporaries who had wanted it, not simply for more direct manipulation of the materials, but also to alleviate a chip on her shoulder. " _Insecure_ ", " _Obsessive_ ", and " _Awkward_ " they had called her in the Academy, and yet when the time came for the procedure they all cowered while she was eager, proving to them all that the adjectives they should have used were " _Dedicated_ ", " _Orderly_ ", and " _A Cut Above_ ".

"I assume that you see my point," Moira added. "and I'm glad. It's rare to find another who will give anything to transcend limitations."

Satya looked up, it dawning on her in great surprise just what the scientist was getting at. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Like Richard III, I consider a black limb to be a trivial sacrifice in exchange for power. For instance, if it weren't for the experiment that brought upon its frailty, that mark of yours would have scarred."

Satya looked at the concoction as the last drops slithered out of the tube into her neck, then examined the hand. Still, correlation didn't equal causation, she knew, and her expression reflected as such.

Moira reached for a scalpel on the counter and wiped it down with more disinfectant. "If you don't believe me," she said. "take a look for yourself."

In one quick motion that made Satya flinch, she placed the scalpel's blade on her palm and made a long slice across it. Where there should have been drops of crimson, a trickle of obsidian fluid spurted forth and evaporated into a thick mist before, in just a few seconds, the wound closed up as though it had never been made. Simultaneously, Satya clasped the end of the tube and yanked it out, wincing as the needle's sting flared upon exit. Looking down, once exposed to the air, the last droplets also floated off in wisps.

"And if you think that's the extent of it," Moira continued, making her way back towards the tank. "I am sure you remember that I said he was a creation of mine as well, do you not?"

Satya blinked rapidly as the connections drew, almost as though she was trying to find some reasonable, impossible alternative to explain just how similar the black clouds looked to Moira's blood.

"I can tell you're still skeptical," Moira smirked, walking across the room to the opposite counter where a holo-computer was. Upon typing in a few commands, she called forth a hologram on the screen and motioned for Satya to come over and look. The screen showed a man, draped in a black hooded overcoat and wearing the same mask she had seen earlier, stepping into the open tank and letting himself, all at once, dissolve into the cloud of swirling, inky darkness that now filled it.

Satya transfixed on the footage, unable to look away. For all the things she'd been able to see, to create with her own hands by virtue of Vishkar's creations, the idea of turning a human into a weapon by means of science, of being able to instill such a sense of dread as she'd felt with but a touch was something she'd have haughtily dismissed in an instant, if she weren't looking at airtight proof of it.

Even so, seeing and believing weren't things that always went hand in hand. "Who is it?" she asked.

Triumph marked Moira's voice as she tilted her head towards the ceiling, her eyes sparkling with ambition. "A testament to what we are all capable of when we throw off our shackles. Meta-human power, once relegated to fiction, now brought to life. In that form, there is not a single thing that can harm him."

She turned back around, raising a sallow, black-veined finger and drawing in closer and closer until the only thing going through Satya's thoughts was a repetition of a command for Moira to back off.  
"You, however," the scientist cooed. "command a power greater still. To be able to alter reality to your whim is the ultimate transcendence of limitations."

Satya raised a small grin, acting as though she'd been complemented. "Vishkar has always strived to create a new and better world. We do so with every project we undertake."

"Skyscrapers are merely the beginning, child," Moira chuckled. "I'm referring to what true power, true inhibition can accomplish."  
Taking Satya's arm, she led her out into the centre of the laboratory and gestured out towards the open space. "Imagine, if you will," she continued. "an army of only one person, and yet at the same time their name is Legion, for they are many. With but a thought they can outnumber any opponent and overwhelm any obstacle by creating invincible soldiers whenever and wherever they so choose. Each and every one is an extension of their controller's will, courtesy of the power of hard light."

Indignation scrunched Satya's expression as she saw through the implication. "Vishkar has never sought out military contracts. We improve lives, not take them."

"Sanjay must not have told you about his applications to Oasis, or his tenure in New York."

Suppressing the stirring second-hand offense growing within, Satya offered a taut bow. "Thank you for your hospitality, Ms O'Deorain, but I really should be going."

"The pleasure's all mine," Moira replied, again raising an eyebrow. "I'm glad to see your injury healed properly. You may feel somewhat nauseated at first, but it should settle down quickly."

"I will remember that."

Before anything else could be said, the door had clicked shut behind Satya as she made her way back out into the maze of hallways.

Where she nearly collapsed after just a few steps.

Catching herself by impacting the wall with a heavy bump, her heart throbbed in her ears and her vision blurred with light-headedness once again. Though her throat was unobstructed, each breath that she took was desperately shallow and swift as anxiety swept over her like wildfire, as though every suppressed emotion and errant fear and worry was boiling over and eating away at her from the inside out.

 _Not again_ , she thought. _By gods, why is this happening again?!_

On quivering legs she forced herself back up, pulling her hand back from over her eyes to see it streaked with tears.

_Because... because... it should happen._

Her breathing slowed and deepened again as she dusted off her shoulders and tied her hair back into place. From a sensible standpoint, she reasoned, it had to make sense. Sombra had wanted her here to show her something, and what had been the point of everything she'd been shown but to push her outside of her comfort zone? By that metric, the fact that she'd come out of a near-death experience and meeting with a mad scientist without being overwhelmed could be seen as an absolute win. Now, she just had to head back the way she came, find Sombra's real boss, and do it all over again one more time.

Satya put on a smile as she started her way back down the hallway. _Now that I know that I want this,_ she told herself. _It will be easier the second time._

The queasy feeling rumbling in her stomach just had to be the formula, like what Moira had said would happen.

_Right?_


	12. Greater Designs, Part II

It didn't settle.

If anything, it got worse; the further back Satya retraced her steps, returning down the white-walled hallway that had led her to her harrowing encounter with death, confusion, and chaos, the more the queasy churning eroded away at her insides, making her breathing shallow and leaving her feeling as though she was going to throw up. Wrapping her arms over her stomach as she came to a stop further down the hall, she pressed her back against the wall and sunk her head until her chin met her collarbone, feeling her chest rise and fall underneath it.

 _This is all too much_ , she thought. _I can't take it anymore._ Between the maniacs and the mad scientists and the monsters nothing had gone as planned over the past few days, and it was simply beyond her ability to handle.

Beyond Sombra's faith in her ability to handle.

Her shoulders heaved with her breathing as she pushed harder against the wall, using force and friction to keep herself from collapsing to the ground. In that moment fear took hold, fear of the unknown, of the nightmares she had encountered and of what could have been waiting further inside the labyrinthine mansion for her, a fear that left one simple, powerful wish crawling through her mind and dominating her thoughts.

_I want to go home._

She shook her head as her eyes tightened, trying to dam the emotions that were on the verge of overflowing completely until she craned her neck back up, running her fingers through her hair as she lifted it off from over her face. Steadying her breathing as much as she could, she turned back towards the direction she'd been going in, only to notice for the first time that the hallway, when coming from the laboratory, forked in two, splitting off into two identical pathways to two different places. One direction, she knew, led back towards the surface, back towards some semblance of order, while the other would take someone walking it to places unknown and, if experience was any indication, even more chaotic than where they already were.

It was a simple choice, until an unfamiliar sound resonated through the corridors.

Satya flinched and gasped, her eyes drawing wide in an instant. Amplified by the narrow, bare walls, whatever this sound was seemed like the brief crack of thunder during a rainstorm, even though Satya knew for sure that she was over a mile underground. The crack was followed by another just seconds after, then another, and then another still, each one roaring in her ears as though it were less than fifty feet away.

Covering her ears to shield out the noise and try to keep it from further stirring up the rotten feeling within her, it should have driven home Satya's choice, an indicator of looming chaos that she should have been eager to steer clear of.

And yet, she stayed at the fork.

Ever so gradually, as the pounding sound grew familiar and her reaction less sensitive, Satya lowered her hands while a newly learned concept rushed through her brain, one given to her by the one person she'd met since coming to Higher New York that she knew she could trust.

Things not going to plan, was actually part of the plan.

Looking back on it renewed clarity of the bigger picture and her place in it, even in spite of how things looked. Over the course of less than a week she had been upheaved from Rio and brought to a gleaming city that floated over a powder keg, met a strange woman who had broken into her new home who told her to adopt a mindset she'd been taught to abhor her whole life, sprung two of the most deplorable beings on the face of the planet from the one place they belonged, and befriended that same strange woman over drinks at a musty dive bar in the all hours of the night. A week ago, the thought of such unorthodoxy in Satya's life would have been inconceivable, and yet here she was, living through it all the same. Most importantly, what mattered the most in her life remained unchanged; her morning routine, her dancing, her mantra were things that couldn't be done without, but the fact that she still did them brought a proud little smile to Satya's face.

Besides, she thought, the chaos had to end sometime. Sombra wouldn't have sent her down this tunnel if there wasn't a light at the end. Her friend had faith in her just like the deities she'd studied had faith in their chosen people, and it was said that they never gave a person more than they could handle.

Just like what she'd been promised.

 _One last unknown_ , she resolved. _I won't let you down, Sombra. Not again._

Each pounding pulse, echoing louder than the last as she started down the hall, made her flinch, and with each step came the pang of that same queasiness in her stomach again.

Satya frowned: This chaos needed to be handled first.

Closing her eyes and holding her hands in a meditative pose as she continued to walk the straight path ahead, she looked deeper inside herself with every step, plumbing her mind for the moments and the feelings of what mattered most, while silently mouthing out the words that brought them all together.

She heard the gentle trickle of water in a pool filled with lotus flowers while she stood alongside the Omnic monk Zenyatta, both of them deep into a conversation over the meanings of great things that brought ease to troubled minds. " _Order through peace._ "

She smelled the rich aroma of a fresh cup of tea made under a glistening sunrise that slowly made its way up over the bay and sparkled through Higher New York's dome. " _Peace through calm._ "

She felt the thrilling rush coursing through her veins as she danced under the dim yellow lights, the adulation of a small congregation fueling her joy and lifting her through the muck and mire of unfamiliarity. " _Calm through order_."

A happy little smile drew across her lips as her stomach settled back under control. _Thank you, Sombra._

At last, as she opened her eyes the hallway's end came at a door, which slid open upon nearing to show a pitch-dark room behind it, obscuring the origin of each resonating thud that reverberated in Satya's ears. Satya nearly had to cover her ears again as the volume increased threefold, but through a straight face, straighter posture, and the right thoughts she found the resolve to weather it as she stepped inside, once again holding onto what confidence she had to keep her ready for the unexpected.

What she found, though, could never have been prepared for.

The first few lights sparked to life immediately, piercing the darkness with a faint white glow and revealing dim outlines of what appeared to be some sort of gymnasium or training room. The further Satya progressed ahead, the more lights made their existence known and showed more vague details of the room. Looking up and squinting through the shadows, she noticed what looked like an observation booth overlooking the main floor through tall panes of glass, while weights, pre-programmed training drones, and other pieces of equipment could be seen scattered around the floor as she twirled three hundred sixty degrees. Finally, as she planted her vision forward again and found the heart of the room, where shrouded in darkness the outline of someone could only just be made out, someone letting loose a torrent of vicious blows to a punching bag.

An instinctive pang started in her mind before making a chilly run down her spine. _This is it_ , she thought. _This is the source._

She now stood just under twenty feet away from the figure, who seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they were no longer alone. Aside from the connections of each blow on the bag, they were completely, eerily silent, radiating an intensity that Satya could feel in her core. Though most of their distinguishing features were concealed by the shadows that the light couldn't penetrate, what could be seen was that this being was a man who stood nearly seven feet tall and was built like a professional fighter, a guess backed up by how each bare-knuckled punch and kick delivered was savage, but well-disciplined.

Satya treaded lightly across the hardwood floor as she inched closer, not wanting to interrupt him but also wanting to be ready to speak up; She knew better than most the importance of completing a task without interjection. The floor clicked and clacked underneath her footsteps as she closed to ten feet, hoping that the pounding would drown out her approach.

It nearly did.

At five feet away, the man, still obscured by impenetrable blackness, delivered a ferocious right punch that ripped the suspending leather straps like pieces of twine, blew a wave of air into Satya's face upon impact, and sent the bag flying across the room and into a wall with a deafening crack. She gasped in shock and surprise, staring with eyes shot wide open in an instant as the bag sunk flaccidly onto the floor, sand pouring from multiple ruptures.

The person their shoulders dropping and their breathing becoming louder, appeared to relax their muscles and study over their hands, flexing them, savouring the power they had just brought to bare. If there was a time to speak up, Satya, knew, this was it.

But she couldn't.

The words died on her tongue as a fearful twitch surged down to her extremities. As the person's neck twisted and the unmistakable feeling of eye contact took hold it went further and stronger still, locking her where she stood like headlights on a deer. The queasiness in her stomach returned and her organic hand began to shake wildly, but she didn't dare act on them for fear of him doing something. It didn't matter what they could possibly do; Her mind was too busy surmising how it could end horribly for her.

This wordless meeting continued for over a minute before the silence was finally broken. "I take it you are here for a reason," he said, his voice a rich, authoritative baritone soaked deep in a presumably African accent. "so I suggest you share it with me."

Praying that the darkness hid her inner feelings as well as it did the he ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it, she held her trembling hand in place behind her back as she recited her mantra yet again.

And, as she steadied her heartbeat, refused to let herself be taken apart yet again.

When she finally answered, her voice was calm and regal, offering a polite and well-trained warmness. "Good day, sir. I had no intention to interrupt you, and I offer my sincerest apology if I did so."

"Spare me such pleasantries," he replied as he turned to face her head-on, towering over her small frame. "I did, after all, ask you a question."

She straightened her posture to a further degree of rigidity. "Satya Vaswani, of the Vishkar corporation. I was sent here on orders from Sombra to meet her superior."

For almost a minute, the silence was palpable, the only noise echoing through the room being the low humming of a ventilation fan high above. Satya's arm shook further behind her back until she restrained with an invisible barrier; Had she done something wrong, said or done something to offend this person who remained standing in the shadows?

It was a thought that shattered like glass when the man spoke again.

"Ah, so you're the one who sprung the Junkers from their pen," he said, his voice losing its edge in an instant, replaced just as quickly with something that felt like... _Impressed?_

"For someone as inexperienced as yourself," he added. "you have my congratulations for executing such a daunting task as well as you did. The Junkers are unpredictable, but they have always been more useful when left to their own devices. I look forward to seeing where their work takes them next."

Thinking back to her exploits then stirred nauseatingly within Satya, leaving her eager to focus on another point. "Thank you sir, though if I may correct you, I have had extensive training and experience with Vishkar."

"And it has served you well. I always have use for assets with your skills."

The wheels in Satya's mind clicked as she caught the choice of words. "You do?"

The man briefly paused, then broke into a deep chuckle. "Indeed. For you see, you needn't search any further, Vaswani. I am Sombra's overseer."

Inwardly, Satya breathed a sigh of relief. _At last_. "It is a great honour to meet you, sir."

The turn of his back, still hidden within the dark like the rest of himself, juxtaposed the man's words. "Likewise. I have been expecting you."

Satya's shoulders curled inward submissively. "I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting. I take full responsibility."

"Do not worry about it." Turning around, he outreached an immense, bulky arm and gestured that she follow him. "Come. I wish to speak with you."

He turned to walk further into the dark that still consumed half the room, not leaving Satya a chance to respond before she was obligated to follow in order to avoid the embarrassment of staying behind with no good excuse.

Or at least, no excuse that didn't leave the possibility of sharing the punching bag's fate.

More lights activated as she moved, illuminating the pathway that led to a door just underneath the observation booth, but the ones that stayed doused still provided a wall that kept Sombra's boss concealed.

"I apologize again for my entrance. It must have been startling," she said, picking up her pace to keep with his.

His voice went blunt quickly. "There is no need to apologize. I am never caught unprepared."

Satya's pause for words went far longer than she felt it should have. She could have - would have - brushed it away quickly had it not been for the questions bubbling up that demanded answers, questions that despite causing her deep discomfort when answered earlier she still wasn't going to let sit.

Not so long as Sombra still had faith in her.

After a few more steps, they reached another door that slid open to reveal a corner office. Following the man in, the lights inside sprang to life and showed off several exotic decorations along the walls, but they too were carefully placed as so not to give away anything distinguishing about the man. Following her wandering eyes from fixture to fixture, Satya's attention was caught first by a mask of presumably African origin, then a painting of a man striking a fanciful pose atop his horse on a snow-capped mountain, and finally a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking a parallel room. Peering down showed what appeared to be a large conference table in a room decorated with more items of the kind she'd seen, but the man dimmed the windows with the flip of a switch and gestured for her to come towards the desk he stood behind before she could study anything in closer detail.

Upon each taking a seat on opposite ends, the man clasped his fingers together as his elbows rested on the desk, slightly leaning in towards Satya. "Tell me," he queried, his voice quiet but his tone direct. "What do you know of my organization?"

Her reply matched his in succinctness, adding hands on her lap, tight shoulders, and a humble tone to show respect. "Only what Sombra has told me. You are a third party with an interest in Vishkar business, and that I was chosen to carry out assignments on your behalf."

The man response was delayed enough that Satya deduced he had found her response fascinating, but in just what way was beyond her ability to give an educated guess about. "And what do you think of Sombra?" he finally asked. "Have you found her... agreeable?"

"I have found her to be honest, compassionate, and fair."

An even longer delay followed, as well as another unreadable expression. "You choose your words carefully," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Perhaps you could share with me the words you didn't choose?"

Satya kept a straight face, but the uneasy fidgeting of her hands under the desk was a physical indication of how she inwardly bristled at the request. Sombra asking her to be honest was one thing, but a complete stranger doing the same was another entirely.

 _No_ , she realized. _Not a complete stranger, but my friend's superior_.

She clasped her hands together tightly, keeping them from fidgeting further. Though she had been unable to take her usual measure of him, from her very first day of the Academy Satya had been taught to always trust in her superiors, a practice she still maintained even after Sanjay had shaken it. If Sombra trusted this person, why shouldn't she as well?  
"In truth," she finally said. "there have been times when Sombra has put me in a situation where I felt... uncomfortable."

Though she couldn't see his face, the inflection of his voice led Satya to believe the man was smiling. "That's natural," he replied. "You wouldn't be the first one she's had such an effect on."

Now it was Satya's turn to not reply; In the midst of the conversation, her attention had been caught by another painting, one that was hanging slightly off balance and nagging insistently for her to make right. By the time she had risen from her chair and walked over to remedy the nagging problem, her benefactor's voice rumbled from close behind.

"A masterpiece, isn't it?"

Satya subtly peered over her shoulder, finding he was still hiding in the shadows despite sounding so close behind her. "Indeed," she said. "I have seen it before, in Utopaea."

"Ah, Vishkar headquarters. Theirs is a duplicate. This cost me a great deal to obtain."

"I can see why. It is an embodiment of order's superiority over chaos, as well as how serenity is the key to achieving order."

The man first chuckled at her statement, then let it grow into a hearty, bellowing laugh. Satya, her eyebrows scrunching in confusion, looked over her shoulder back at him. "Have I said something funny?" she inquired.

The way the man answered seemed to indicate that he had been anticipating her question. "A unique view to be certain, but one that doesn't see the bigger picture, both figuratively and literally."

"I'm... not sure what you mean."

"It is simple." He placed a large, firm hand on Satya's shoulder, gently nudging her closer. "You simply need to look closer."

Leaning in with his nudge, Satya's examination of the painting went from top to bottom. The work, so far as she could tell, was straightforward; a Victorian-era scene of several couples hand in hand, as well as a wealthy man on horseback as they strolled past a large field adjacent to a city block. Low, thick clouds hung over the field, immersing it in shades of darkness and adding a sinister feel, while the cityscape glowed with the light from each building, adding an attractive shimmer as contrast. By the time she craned her neck back and straightened her posture, her confusion was far from abated. Visually, there was little more that she could extract from it aside from what value she and Sanjay had put on it.

Despite not looking at her face to face, the man seemed to know exactly what she was feeling. "First," he pointed out. "observe the man on horseback. He wears a military uniform of Napoleon's era."

"I didn't recognize it," Satya replied, a tinge of shame colouring her words and expression. "I'm not familiar with European military history."

"You didn't even recognize the saber at his belt? Only a military man would carry such a weapon in peacetime."

Satya opened her mouth to try to defend herself from criticism, but words adequate enough to do so failed her.

"Now look at the women," he continued. "They stand with the stoicism you would expect from the era, but none of them gaze over the field. Some have red cheeks and hold handkerchiefs, telltale signs that this place holds strong feelings for them."

The wheels in Satya's head clicked again; What was it that she had overlooked? "The site of a tragedy, perhaps?"

The man drew closer behind her until she could almost feel that his hulking mass was a hair's length behind where she stood. "A logical conclusion, if it weren't for the final aspect you missed. Where the women won't look, the men do, especially the one on horseback."

Satya's eyes went wide open as realization swept across her face. "This is the sight of a battle, and the men were in it."

"Precisely. For you see, this painting uses themes of order and chaos, but not as one over the other. No, they are as they should be: Inextricable."

In a span quicker than the eye could blink, Satya's face went from displaying revelation to indignation. _What is he talking_ _about_ , she pondered, wanting to voice it aloud but damming her shock until she could find an appropriate time and place to let it come forth. _Doesn't he know anything of Vishkar's work?!_

The man continued, his voice growing in power and authority until he could have been speaking in front of a gathering of thousands. "Rather than separate, order and chaos are linear; Instead of enemies, they are one in the same. For one to exist, the other must come first, for they are the building blocks of true strength. Chaos is necessary, as it weeds out the weak and curses them to obscurity. Once this is done, order may arise from the ashes, fueled by glory and allowing the victors to crush all who stand in their way. Such is as it has been since the dawn of time, and such is how it shall always be, despite the efforts of those deluded enough to believe peace is the key to prosperity. Your Vishkar knows this truth, and puts it into great practice."

Satya curled her hand behind her back, holding it in a fist to keep it from shaking as the her objections could no longer be held back. "With all due respect, you do not know how Vishkar works. They would never condone anything that aligns with such a dangerous concept as what you're saying."

The man laughed as he again placed a hand on Satya's back. "In which case," he said. "you may find these next few weeks to be... challenging. Still," he continued, while on the reflection of the nearby window Satya could see him raise a hand in front of himself and slowly tighten it into a fist of his own. "creativity and intellect such as yours, I am sure, will adapt quickly."

Anger swelled within Satya alongside the incredulity that boiled in her veins, but she forced herself to swallow it down. There was only so much criticism a superior could take before they considered it insubordination, she knew, and the first measure of this man that she was able to get upon seeing his fist's reflection was that crossing the line between the two would be a fatal mistake. "I won't disappoint you," she answered, hiding her feelings with a submissive time.

His voice again grew in power as he spoke. "I will hold you to that, Vaswani. Now," he said, stepping back from behind and off slightly to one side. "It is best that you be on your way. Your talents will be most useful in achieving our ends, and I intend to see that they are put to work immediately. Remember: There are always greater designs, and once they have been seen through, they will give the masses a better world."

Turning around, Satya's chest burned with the want to continue the debate until this man saw her point, but the reasoning that this was no time for a prolonged debate and the growing eagerness to finally go home won out. After a day filled with as much disorder and confusion as what she had seen, the prospect of watching the sun set over Higher New York while sipping a cup of tea was overpoweringly tantalizing.

But even as she conjured the teleporter and made her way past the darkness-veiled figure of the man, the turn on her heel towards him that she made was done to answer one last piece of curiosity that remained. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name," she said.

Where the man's body language said nothing, the deepening of his voice to a near-snarl said much more. "I did not give it."

Again, Satya overruled the want to pry with the need to return to some semblance of routine. Turning silently and swiftly back towards the portal, she breathed a sigh of relief as she left the mountain complex, the men, monsters, and scientists, and the bewilderment and disarray behind her in favour of her apartment and the familiar normalcy she knew she could expect.

What was less expected - ironically - was finding Sombra sitting on the sofa, a cup of tea in one hand and another sitting on the coffee table.

"You look like you just had the craziest day of your life, _amiga,_ " she said, a warm smile on her face. "Care to tell me what happened?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. The chapters coming up don't require quite as much reworking, so they should come sooner.
> 
> As always, if you enjoy my work, feel free to let me know with your kudos, bookmarks, and comments, and feel free to check out my other stories if you think you'd enjoy them too.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> GeneralSherman.


End file.
